Linn County explores minimum wage increase

CEDAR RAPIDS — The Linn County Board of Supervisors plans to explore with it cities, businesses and residents the possibility of enacting a countywide minimum wage ordinance.

Linn County's discussion, which included a presentation at Wednesday's board meeting, follows Johnson County's decision last year to become the first locality in the state to enact a higher wage threshold than the state's $7.25 an hour.

Linn County officials, though, said they plan to learn from the experience of the Johnson County Board of Supervisors, which received criticism from some cities about a lack of communication beforehand and the speed with which the ordinance was adopted.

'I've had a lot of people ask us about (a minimum wage) since Johnson County did it,' Supervisor Brent Oleson said. 'I'm not speaking for the rest of the board, but I think it's safe to say that I felt Johnson County did it fairly fast.'

The board's hope is to engage in conversation on a wage ordinance — specific timing or the amount of increase was not discussed — to weigh the pros and cons with business owners, residents and city officials including those in Cedar Rapids, Hiawatha and Marion.

'To make this kind of a change, we have to engage the whole community,' Supervisor Linda Langston said.

If passed, a Linn County minimum wage ordinance would blanket the entire county, but city councils would have the option of following the new rate or voting on a counter measure that would stick with the state's rate within city limits.

Last November, the first 95-cent increase took effect for Johnson County's minimum wage. The minimum wage will increase in May to $9.25 an hour and reach $10.10 in 2017.

In Johnson County, communities like Shueyville, Solon and Swisher passed counter ordinances to stick with the state rate.

Watching with interest, Cedar Rapids Mayor Ron Corbett said he felt the Johnson County rule caught several city councils off guard.

'It put local cities in an awkward position of opting out,' he said. 'Local governments need to be working together and it just seemed to me they created an adversarial situation between the Board of Supervisors and local city councils.'

Corbett said he is encouraged by Linn County's approach.

'I'd be happy to be a part of that discussion here in Linn County and certainly appreciate at least the initial beginnings of this discussion,' he said. 'The supervisors are reaching out to local municipalities, which are the entities that they are going to be asking to approve or disprove an increase in the minimum wage. I'm glad we're off on a good foot.'

In Marion, Mayor Nick AbouAssaly said he, too, supports the idea of establishing a working group with other local officials.

'I think it's very important that everybody is included in the process, a topic like this has a countywide impact so it's very important to include all the necessary parties in the discussion,' he said.

Wednesday's discussion was prompted by a report Monday from non-profit research organization Iowa Policy Project, which evaluated the case for raising the Linn County minimum wage to $10.10 over two years.

According to the report, raising the county's wage threshold to $10.10 an hour would directly benefit about 18,400 workers. Of those to benefit, 54 percent are women, 52 percent work full time and 23 percent are age 40 or older, while 20 percent are younger than 20.

The report also states an increase in the wage would boost spending in the local economy and not have a discernible effect on jobs.

Doug Neumann, executive vice president for the Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance, which has 1,200 members representing 90,000 employees, said he, too, is interested in participating in discussions.

'I hope you would rely upon us to be a resource for some of the nuances and some of the complexities of this,' he said. 'I think we're certainly willing to participate in the conversation.'

Last week, Gov. Terry Branstad said he would consider an increase in the state minimum if such a bill lands on his desk this session.

Although the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour has remained unchanged for more than six years, 14 states raised their own minimums effective Jan. 1.

Local Minimum Wage Ordinances in the U.S.

Source: National Employment Law Project, December 2015 Fact Sheet. Map by John McGlothlen / The Gazette