BANGOR, Maine — If Portland increases its minimum wage and Bangor doesn’t follow suit, young workers could leave the state’s most youthful city in search of higher pay, Bangor city councilor Joe Baldacci said Friday.
“If Portland passes whatever increase they pass, I do think that puts pressure on Bangor to also increase (wages), because young workers are going to be attracted to where wages are decent,” Baldacci said. The median age of Bangor residents is 35.5 years, the youngest among municipalities with populations of 10,000 or more in the state, according to the American Community Survey of 2008-2012.
Baldacci is the architect of a proposal to increase the minimum wage in Bangor to $8.25 per hour in 2016, $9 per hour in 2017 and $9.75 in 2018, after which time the local minimum wage would adjust annually with inflation.
The current minimum wage in Bangor and all of Maine is $7.50 per hour while the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s living wage calculator estimates $8.69 per hours is the minimum needed to make ends meet in Bangor, $3.48 per hour above the local poverty wage.
Baldacci’s comment comes in the wake of a Portland finance committee decision Thursday night recommending the Portland City Council increase the minimum wage there to $8.75 per hour with further wage hikes to follow.
It also comes in the shadow of a possible citizen-initiated referendum to increase the minimum wage statewide to $9 per hour in 2017 with annual increases following until the minimum wage reaches $12 per hour in 2020.
Baldacci on Friday said proposals such as Bangor’s and Portland’s put pressure on the state to increase the minimum wage, which has remained stagnant for nearly six years.
After an unsanctioned forum last week, in which he attempted to bolster support for his proposal, Baldacci said Friday he is serious about increasing the minimum wage locally and will bring the matter to the full council.
He said he would approach Council Chairman Nelson Durgin soon in hopes of scheduling a city council workshop to discuss the issue hopefully within four or five weeks.
That proposal comes after the council heard advice from legal counsel in February that issues of statewide interest, such as the minimum wage, should typically be discussed by the full council before a public forum.
Baldacci said he is hopeful a city council workshop will allow for discussion as well as public comment from supporters and opponents of his proposal.
Asked in February about Baldacci’s proposal, not all councilors were convinced it was the best option.
Councilor Josh Plourde expressed concern it could place Bangor at an economic disadvantage compared to surrounding communities when it comes to attracting employers. Councilor Ben Sprague proposed an amendment that only would allow a local minimum wage hike if every community contiguous to Bangor did the same.
Meanwhile, Councilor Pauline Civiello objected to Baldacci’s proposal excluding tipped employees and proposed pairing the minimum wage proposal with council action that would make Bangor a right-to-work city, where workers cannot be compelled to join unions as a condition of employment.
Plourde, the youngest member of the council, objected to language in Baldacci’s proposal that exempted workers under the age of 18 from receiving the increased minimum wage.
Only Councilor Sean Faircloth offered unqualified support for Baldacci’s plan, calling it “an appropriate response to current reality” in the absence of meaningful progress to affect statewide or national increases.
Baldacci said Friday he exempted tipped employees because enforcing it would exceed the city’s enforcement capacity, noting Portland also exempted tipped employees from its proposal.
According to Baldacci, of the roughly 35,000 workers in Bangor, about 8 percent would see higher pay because of his proposal.
According to Todd Gabe, an economics professor at the University of Maine, if the local minimum wage were increased from $7.50 to $8.25, he said, 7 percent of the 67,720 workers in the Bangor metropolitan statistical area would be affected.
At $9 per hour, 12 percent would be affected, he said, and at $9.75 per hour, 18 percent would be affected.
Gabe also said national economic studies on the impact of minimum wage increases show mixed results, with some workers seeing higher wages and others experiencing reduced hours and job losses, depending on the study and work sector.
According to the Maine People’s Alliance, one of two organizations pushing for a statewide referendum, the living wage for a single adult Mainer is about $15.82 per hour.
Business opponents to a minimum wage boost in Bangor have argued before that raising the minimum wage locally, as opposed to a federal increase, could make it more expensive to hire new employees for companies that already exceed the minimum wage.
Additionally, John Porter, CEO of the Bangor Region Chamber of Commerce, expressed concern in February that a higher local minimum wage could make the city appear less business friendly.
Baldacci and supporters argued last week that raising the minimum wage would benefit the city’s economy.
“The people who work at minimum wage or near minimum wage, they are not asking for a handout,” Baldacci said. “There’s not a better issue that says that we want to reward work over welfare than raising the minimum wage.”
Follow Evan Belanger on Twitter at @evanbelanger.