Linn Supervisors soon to vote on minimum wage ordinance

CEDAR RAPIDS - Linn County's Supervisors are set to take up formal discussion first thing next week on a minimum wage ordinance.

The five-member Board of Supervisors is scheduled to discuss the potential countywide ordinance during Monday's work session, according to a meeting agenda.

The potential ordinance before the board - proposed earlier this month by Linn County Board of Supervisors Chairman Ben Rogers - would institute three annual $1 increases to the current federal rate of $7.25 an hour starting Jan. 1, 2017. By Jan. 1, 2019, the minimum wage would reach $10.25 an hour.

The board doesn't vote at work sessions, but a tentative schedule from county staff has the first of three readings on a minimum wage ordinance planned for Wednesday.

A second consideration is tentatively planned for Sept. 6 and a third and final reading could take place Sept. 12.

If the ordinance passes the board, individual city councils within the county would then decide if they want to go along with the ordinance - by essentially doing nothing - or pass their own counter ordinance that sets a different minimum wage.

Supervisors have said the strength of a Linn County minimum wage ordinance hinges on the participation of the county's cities - namely Cedar Rapids, Marion and Hiawatha.

Earlier this week, a Polk County minimum wage task force decided on a final recommendation to the county's Board of Supervisors to raise the minimum wage to $10.75 an hour by 2019. The recommendation includes a cost of living adjustment and setting a youth wage at 85 percent of the minimum wage.

Wapello County Board of Supervisors on Monday will meet at 1:30 p.m. to vote on the second reading of a minimum wage ordinance that would begin three annual 95-cent increases on Jan. 1, 2017. The minimum rate in that county would reach $10.10 in 2019, if it passes the board.

Johnson County was the first in Iowa to adopt a higher minimum wage ordinance. The ordinance passed the five-member board last year, and this May marked the second of three 95-cent an hour increases to the county rate. On Jan. 1, it will reach $10.10 an hour. Future increases in Johnson County will be tied to the consumer price index.

l Comments: (319) 339-3175; mitchell.schmidt@thegazette.com