North Liberty will follow increase in minimum wage

NORTH LIBERTY - With the next 95-cent increase to Johnson County's minimum wage about a month away, the North Liberty City Council plans to stick with the incremental hikes.

During Tuesday's council meeting, the council reopened discussion on the countywide minimum wage ordinance and agreed to go along with its May increase to $9.15.

The choice came with some reluctance from a few members of the council, who expressed concern that the council was lacking in local data and dialogue from the public.

'My only criticism of the wage increase has been the process, this was prescribed to us without that input that I seek from my community,” council member Chris Hoffman said. 'I'm also looking for more information, it still feels real subjective without more data.”

Mayor Amy Nielsen said she felt the public discussion has been extensive.

'If the businesses felt strong enough, it's their responsibility to come out here,” she said. 'We've heard from North Liberty, that's my opinion. I don't know what else to do to bring out more voices or different voices.”

The council has asked staff to come back with more data on the overall community impact of a higher minimum wage before the county rate reaches $10.10 an hour in January 2017.

Before the meeting, close to 40 area residents from across the county held a rally outside North Liberty City Hall to ask the council to continue with the county minimum wage ordinance.

Many present cited a 2015 report by Iowa Policy Project, which forecasts benefits to nearly 20,000 Iowans if Johnson County were to hike the local minimum wage to $15 per hour.

Of the more than a dozen people who spoke Tuesday, all encouraged the council to make no action on the matter and continue with the county ordinance.

'The state had a chance to raise the wage ... (The Johnson County Board of Supervisors) had to make a decision,” said Patrick Wallace, president of the Iowa City Federation of Labor, which represents more than 700 North Liberty residents. 'I say, like everyone else here, just do nothing.”

North Liberty's council agreed last fall to go along with the county ordinance, which was passed by the Johnson County Board of Supervisors and increased the county minimum wage from the state rate of $7.25 an hour to $8.20 this past November. The rate is scheduled to increase to $9.15 on May 1 and reach $10.10 in January 2017.

After that, a county committee will analyze Consumer Price Index data, published by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, to recommend annual adjustments to the hourly wage by April 1 each year.

City councils in Oxford, Shueyville, Solon, and Swisher have opted out of the county ordinance.

In Tiffin, the council is in the midst of passing an ordinance that would set the city's minimum wage at $9 an hour. Unless the city's ordinance is amended, Tiffin's rate would not increase from there.

Johnson is the only Iowa County with higher minimum wages, although Linn County has started discussions about the pros and cons of doing so.

The University of Iowa, the county's largest employer, has estimated the county's increases to cost the UI Housing and Dining department an additional $750,000 in salary expenses. That, in part, has caused department officials to request that the Board of Regents approve a 2.9 percent increase for its most popular double residence hall room and meal plan - a $164 increase for a standard double room to $5,861.

The board will vote on the proposed room and board increases at its April meeting.