Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Activists to county: Offer a living wage

The Green Party is proposing that all Hernando County employees, as well as employees of county contractors, make at least $9.50 per hour.

By ASJYLYN LODER
Published December 3, 2005

Local activists are putting pressure on Hernando County government to take the lead in paying public employees a living wage, calculated at $9.50 an hour.

"Hernando County is experiencing really rapid change, and we thought it would be a good idea to include the working poor in some of the changes that are occurring. This is really aimed at the working poor in the county," said Suzanne Touchton, co-chairwoman of the county's Green Party, which is spearheading the campaign.

The Green Party's campaign mirrors living wage drives throughout the United States, where some 60 to 80 communities have a living wage ordinance on the books, according to varying estimates. The Green Party is asking the County Commission to sponsor a workshop on the issue that includes representatives from the School Board, Brooksville city government, the county, local businesses and other community groups.

The Green Party proposal is to bring all county employees and employees of county contractors up to $9.50 per hour, Touchton said.

According to county payroll records, 79 county employees, more than 10 percent of the county's 700-member work force, earn less than $9.50 an hour. They are mostly custodial and maintenance workers, data entry clerks and interns. The lowest-paid worker earns $6.37 an hour, while the highest - County Attorney Garth Coller - earns $59.05 an hour. The hourly rates do not include the value of health benefits.

Of the 79 people earning under $9.50 an hour, 12 earn less than $7 an hour, an additional 20 earn less than $8 hourly, and 28 earn less than $9 per hour.

County Planning Department statistics indicate that Hernando County residents earn an average of $24,555 per person, or slightly more than $11 an hour.

Barbara Dupre, the county's human resources director, said the impact of a living wage ordinance on the county's budget would be "absolutely huge" because higher-wage employees would have to get similar raises in order to make the system fair.

"If you were to add a living wage, it impacts every single person in your pay plan because otherwise it's really not fair," Dupre said.

Baltimore was the first city to pass a living wage ordinance in 1994. Since then more than 80 communities nationwide have adopted measures, including Boston, Philadelphia and Chicago, according to the Web site for the Universal Living Wage Campaign.

Living wage measures vary nationwide. Some include only full-time county employees; others exempt employees of county contractors if the contract is below a certain amount. Some measures increase the living wage for employees who do not receive benefits, according to the Employment Policies Institute, a nonprofit research group in Washington, D.C., and an opponent of living wage measures.

Touchton said the wage rate and who is covered are negotiable. The $9.50 was based on how much a full-time worker would need to earn to keep a family of four above the poverty line, she said.

"If we can bring it to the public's attention, they can begin to think about the difference between a minimum wage and a living wage, which really attacks poverty at its source," Touchton said.

Opinion on the economic impact of living wages is sharply divided.

The Employment Policies Institute counted eight Florida cities and counties that have living wage ordinances. The wage rate ranges from $7.98 in Orange County to $9.57 in Broward and Palm Beach counties.

The institute claims that the living wage campaign is "an organized effort to force employers to inject a welfare mentality into the workplace," according to its Web site. Living wage ordinances lead to job loss, layoffs and increased costs for private employers, the institute claims.

The Economic Policy Institute, another Washington, D.C., nonprofit group, claims the opposite. Its research shows insignificant job loss and no chilling effect on contractors competing for business in living wage localities.

Hernando County Commissioner Jeff Stabins said the issue deserves a hearing, and he supports a workshop to discuss it.

"It's something other communities have done," Stabins said. "And it's something that might show that Hernando County is a good place to live and to work, and that we respect the labor of our employees, and we're willing to pay them a decent wage for it."

--Asjylyn Loder can be reached at aloder@sptimes.com or 352 754-6127.

[Last modified December 3, 2005, 01:22:20]