BANGOR, Maine — City Councilor Joe Baldacci is delaying a move to increase the local minimum wage until after the City Council passes a new budget.
The council has until June 30 to pass a budget or the budget proposed by City Manager Cathy Conlow will automatically take effect.
Asked this week about his minimum wage proposal, Baldacci said he has discussed the possibility of a council workshop to consider his proposal but prefers to wait until July.
Baldacci said he has submitted a draft of the ordinance to City Manager Cathy Conlow in preparation for council consideration.
“I think that I’m going to push for it as soon as we get this budget approved, and I’m hoping that the workshop can happen right after the Fourth of July — at least I’m thinking mid-July will probably be when it gets scheduled,” he said.
Asked in April, Baldacci said he was hopeful the council workshop would be in four or five weeks, which would have been mid-May.
With some city employees earning less than Baldacci’s proposed minimum wage, Baldacci said he has considered bringing the matter up during budget discussions, but decided against it so there could be a full council debate on the issue.
He estimated the cost of increasing the pay to city employees would be $50,000 to $60,000.
Assistant City Manager Bob Farrar said in February, shortly after Baldacci pitched the minimum wage increase, that the city had 12 part-time seasonal temporary workers last year who were paid minimum wage and 183 who earned less than the $9.75 to which Baldacci’s proposal would eventually increase the citywide minimum pay.
None of those were permanent part-time workers, he said. Many worked in summer maintenance, camps and lifeguard jobs for the parks department. Depending on the season, he said, the city can employ between 150 and 250 part-time seasonal temporary workers.
Baldacci proposed in February a local ordinance that would incrementally increase the minimum wage in Bangor, beginning with a bump from $7.50 to $8.25 per hour in 2016, advancing to $9 per hour in 2017 and to $9.75 in 2018.
It would exempt tipped workers as well as workers under the age of 18. Maine’s current minimum wage is $7.50 per hour, 25 cents above the federal minimum.
After that, the minimum wage would fluctuate with the consumer price index, a measure of inflation.
While some on the City Council have questioned the logistics of a local minimum wage, Baldacci has said he remains hopeful the council will approve his proposal.
The proposal comes as Portland and South Portland consider their own minimum-wage hikes.
With more than three months having passed since Baldacci went public with his proposal, he noted that “Portland has taken over a year and it still hasn’t been enacted.”
If Maine cities begin to increase their local minimums, Baldacci said, it will put pressure on the state to increase the minimum wage statewide.
“I think eventually it’s going to help just keep focus on getting a statewide increase done,” he said.
The proposal is set against the backdrop 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.
It also comes as Gov. Paul LePage proposes a bill that would block cities from increasing their minimum wages. Baldacci said this week he is not deterred by that bill and he thinks it could increase support for local minimum wage hikes.
Follow Evan Belanger on Twitter at @evanbelanger.