BANGOR, Maine — A proposed ordinance to raise the local minimum wage will go before the City Council on July 27 as planned after surviving two attempts at delay.
During a government operations committee meeting Monday, councilors discussed multiple amendments proposed by Councilor Gibran Graham.
Specifically, Graham objected to provisions of the ordinance that excluded employees under the age of 18 as well as tipped employees.
“To segment out that workforce, I think is really just wrong,” he said.
He also objected to a provision that exempts businesses with four or fewer employees, saying it could cause some businesses to limit growth.
Those changes would make the ordinance more closely mirror state law, Graham said.
Councilor Joe Baldacci, who proposed the ordinance, said he had no problems with the first two proposed amendments. He said he probably would not object to the third amendment concerning small business, but he would have to think about it.
If approved, the ordinance incrementally would increase the local minimum wage from $7.50 to $8.25 per hour in 2016, $9 per hour in 2017 and $9.75 per hour in 2018.
After that, the minimum wage would fluctuate with the Consumer Price Index, a measure of inflation.
For tipped employees, Baldacci proposed an amendment similar to the state law that would have employers pay half the new minimum wage, approximately $4.13 an hour.
Employers would have to make up the difference for tipped workers whose hourly rate and tips do not average the proposed $8.25 per hour for the pay period.
That proposal is similar to state law, which allows employers to pay tipped workers as little $3.75 an hour, half the statewide $7.50 minimum wage, and make up the difference for workers who do not average the statewide minimum wage for the pay period.
Meanwhile, Councilors Josh Plourde and David Nealley called for an amendment to make the ordinance take effect on July 1, 2016, to coincide with the city’s fiscal year, as opposed to Jan. 1, 2016, as called for in the ordinance.
The move would allow the city to plan for the potential financial impact of the city paying more to minimum-wage workers, they said, all of whom are part-time seasonal and temporary employees.
It also would allow the city to plan for the possibility that it would have to hire additional personnel to help enforce the ordinance.
“It is quite likely that we’re going to need someone to field those calls who has (human resources) or Department-of-Labor-like experience so that we don’t put the city at harm’s edge,” Nealley said.
According to Assistant City Manager Robert Farrar, the proposed pay hike would affect between 115 and 135 of the city’s part-time temporary and seasonal employees in 2016, representing a cost of $50,000 to $60,000.
City Manager Cathy Conlow and City Solicitor Norm Heitmann said there was no way to predict whether additional personnel would be needed to enforce the ordinance, but Heitmann added it seemed unlikely.
“I don’t anticipate that happening, because I do anticipate employers following the rules,” he said.
The proposal survived two attempts at delay. First, when Nealley moved to table so city staff could study potential impacts of the ordinance. That motion died for lack of a second.
When Nealley’s motion failed, Chairwoman Pauline Civiello also moved to table so staff could investigate further. Seconded by Nealley, that motion failed in a 2-3 vote with Baldacci, Plourde and Councilor Patricia Blanchette dissenting.
“This ordinance is deserving of a final conclusion, and I think we do so Monday evening with some swiftness,” said Plourde, who opposes the proposed ordinance.
Councilor Ben Sprague, a member of the committee who is expected to cast the deciding vote on the issue next week, was not present for Monday’s discussion, days after the birth of his second child. He has said he is undecided on the issue.
The proposal has been praised by some as a means to provide a living wage for the city’s lowest-paid workers and criticized by others as a burden to local businesses.
Follow Evan Belanger on Twitter at @evanbelanger.