I support the City Council’s recent vote to commission a study of the effect of raising the minimum wage in Sonoma. We owe it to our workforce to explore this issue thoroughly.
Other local governments in the North Bay have tackled this issue in recent years resulting in minimum wage increases anywhere from $10.15 to $12.53, with implementation ranging from immediate to over the course of several years. That being said, all of these cities are at least ten times as big as Sonoma, and it is hard to predict what the effect would be on our existing and future businesses. We need the study results before we can make an informed decision on this issue.
From a logistics standpoint, establishing a local minimum wage would require Sonoma to operate as its own Department of Labor. Our current city staff does not have the expertise or manpower to serve this function, and we need to determine how feasible it is to create and operate this new agency.
Additionally, I am concerned about the effect of raising the minimum wage on teenagers entering the workforce. With a higher minimum wage, an employer will always choose the more experienced person over someone looking for their first job. I am also concerned about the effect on new businesses that already have a tough time getting financing.
It might be possible to craft a local wage ordinance that addresses these and other concerns, but the City Council must have all of the information first.
My Comments At The Recent City Council Meeting
At a recent city council meeting, the Council discussed a proposal to commission a study of the effects of raising the minimum wage on the City of Sonoma. The Council voted 3-2 to move forward with the study. Here are the comments I made to the Council.
There has been a lot of conversation this year about raising the minimum wage at the federal, state and local level, and I am glad Sonoma is being proactive and talking about this now. Thank you Councilmember Barbose for putting it on tonight’s agenda.
This is a complex issue for the council and the voters to tackle, because most of the discussion and research out there is on the state and federal levels, and we have a number of unique factors to consider since we are a small city.
Because there are so many perspectives to consider, I would like to see the city host a series of public forums, inviting workers, business owners – particularly Sonoma-based small business owners, and Living Wage advocates to come together to talk about the potential effects of raising our minimum wage at the local level.
I know this is only the first of many public conversations about this issue, but in my own research, I know I would like to answer questions like:
- Is this decision best made by the city council or directly by the voters?
- What should be our target increase and what will be the timeline?
- Which jobs will be most affected? Where do those employees live? Where do they spend their money? Would an increase in their wages enable them to move into the city and spend their money here?
- How would tips or benefits be considered?
- Would a tiered approach better achieve our community goals? Would we make a distinction based on the number of employees? How would we ensure teens can still get entry-level jobs?
- How would an increase affect residents hoping to start new businesses in Sonoma? How can we support our Sonoma-based small businesses that are already competing against higher capitalized chains and online competitors?
I look forward to speaking with the experts out there who have been studying this issue for some time. I also look forward to meeting and talking to workers who would benefit, as well as local business owners who would be affected. Other local governments in the North Bay have tackled this issue in recent years resulting in minimum wage increases anywhere from $10.15 to $12.53, with implementation ranging from immediate to over the course of several years.
There is a lot to learn and talk about, but I look forward to seeing where this conversation might take us.
Additional Information
Here is some background information I gathered about other local minimum wage increases in the Bay Area.
San Jose – A voter-approved measure in late 2012 raised the minimum wage to $10.00 with an annual cost-of-living increase. Today, the minimum wage in San Jose is $10.15.
Berkley – Berkley City Council voted unanimously in June 2014 to approve an increase in the minimum wage to $12.53 over the next two years. The first increase to $10.00 will take effect October 1 of this year. Next October, it will increase to $11.00. In October of 2016, it will then be increased to $12.53. This was the compromise reached after a proposal was made for a $15.00 minimum wage with an annual cost of living adjustment plus paid vacation and sick leave.
Oakland – Oakland City Council voted against a gradual increase in the minimum and is letting voters decide in a November ballot measure whether the minimum wage should be raised to $12.25 starting March 1 of next year. An alternative plan had been proposed by two councilmembers that would have raised the minimum wage for larger businesses starting in October 2015 and would have given small businesses longer time to comply. That plan was voted down.
Richmond – Initially, the issue of raising the minimum wage was going to be decided by voters in a ballot measure. The Richmond City Council voted in March 2014 to raise the minimum wage to $12.30 by 2017.
San Francisco – Currently $10.74. This fall, voters will decide whether to raise the minimum wage to $15.00.
Under current legislation, the statewide minimum wage will increase to $10.00 on January 1, 2016. Senate Bill 935 would raise the statewide minimum wage to $11.00 on January 1, 2015, $12.00 on January 1, 2016, $13.00 on January 1, 2017 and then starting January 1, 2018, the minimum wage will be indexed to the Consumer Price Index.