After seeing draft, Johnson County supervisors press ahead on wages

IOWA CITY — A proposal to raise the minimum wage in Johnson County seeks to weed out covering short-term jobs, but include occasional work for employers in the county, a draft of the rules released Wednesday shows.

The proposed ordinance, being discussed by the Johnson County Board of Supervisors, would raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 an hour in phases.

A draft of the rules contemplates them applying to 'each hour worked within the geographic boundaries of Johnson County.' But so that it doesn't also apply to, say, someone who makes a delivery into Johnson County, the rules would apply to occasional workers who perform more than two hours of work in a two-week period for an employer within the county.

Following their first look at the draft, county supervisors continued Wednesday to move forward with the plan.

It would raise the minimum wage by 95 cents an hour each year, starting this winter, until 2017. After reaching $10.10 an hour, the draft shows, the county would make annual adjustments using the State's Consumer Price Index for the Midwest region.

The first of three readings on the ordinance could occur this month.

One of the reasons for moving quickly is anticipation that the Legislature, which hasn't raised Iowa's minimum wage since 2007, might react to local efforts.

'I wouldn't be surprised to see the Legislature address a certain level of the minimum wage and somehow find a way to limit our ability to move forward beyond that passage,' Supervisor Terrence Neuzil said during a board work session Wednesday.

Although other localities around the country recently have adopted local wage thresholds — including Seattle and San Francisco — Johnson County is the first in Iowa to press the issue this far. The state's top labor official has said he doesn't think it's legal for local politicians — rather than state legislators — to adopt a wage standard.

But after researching the issue, Johnson County Attorney Janet Lyness said last week she couldn't deem a local minimum wage ordinance as being illegal.

A draft document created by Lyness states that neither federal nor state laws on minimum wages pre-empt a local ordinance, as county governments have a level of home rule they can exercise.

By the same token, municipalities within Johnson County also have a level of authority. And, if decided by a local city council, a city could adopt a counter ordinance — basically to opt out of the county's rules and stick with the state minimum wage, or to set their own higher minimum wage.

Iowa City Mayor Matt Hayek and Coralville Mayor John Lundell said their councils will wait to see how the county's ordinance progresses.

The draft version of the rules says that a violation of the minimum wage ordinance would be treated as a county citation that can come with a $750 per day penalty.

Lyness said it's unknown just how many violations might occur, but if there are many, it could require additional employees in her County Attorney's Office.

'If we end up having a lot of complaints and have a lot of enforcement, I'm going to have to come back to you looking for additional staff to enforce it,' Lyness said.

Proposed Johnson County minimum wage ordinance (PDF) Proposed Johnson County minimum wage ordinance (Text)