Linn County Supervisors may seek more minimum wage input before vote

CEDAR RAPIDS - A decision on creating a countywide minimum wage ordinance sits solely in the hands of the Linn County Board of Supervisors, but some of the five members say they need more information.

Supervisor Ben Rogers said Monday the information sought - including a minimum-wage increase's impact on the local economy, employees and employers - was supposed to have come from a countywide working group formed this year.

But after only three months, the group voted last week to recommend a local $1 increase in the state's minimum and dissolved itself. Now any more research will fall to the supervisors, Rogers said.

'That data and that anecdotal storytelling would have been very valuable to this board,” he said during Monday's work session. 'Maybe we have to do our own fact-finding, hold our own public hearings or public input sessions.”

Supervisor John Harris, who represents many of the county's rural townships, said he wants input from communities like Robins, Palo and Mount Vernon.

'It appeared to me that there wasn't a whole lot of input from the non-metro area,” Harris said. 'We were hoping to have more information and more data.”

Earlier this year, the board organized a group of elected officials, community leaders, business executives and social service experts to determine the pros and cons of a higher minimum wage in Linn County. Last week, group members voted to recommend an $8.25 per hour minimum wage be implemented at the start of 2017.

In that vote, the working group pledged to meet again next year - after the legislative session adjourns - to revisit the discussion.

Supervisor Brent Oleson said he is open to collecting more data, adding that he was disappointed at the working group's unexpected recommendation, but also said he is ready to vote.

Some have praised the group for quick action but others are critical the recommendation was made without enough input.

'The group voted to dissolve,” he said. 'I don't need to hear much more, but I'm happy to.”

One thing the board agreed on was that a minimum wage ordinance needs buy-in from the county's cities - particularly Cedar Rapids, Marion and Hiawatha - in order to have any impact.

Once a county ordinance is passed, individual city councils would have the ability to follow along or pass their own ordinance establishing a minimum wage that is different from the county's, essentially opting out.

'I want to make sure our three metro areas, the mayors, are at the table,” Supervisor Amy Johnson said. 'If we enact something that they opt out of, where does that leave us? We can do as much as we can, but we need their participation.”

A minimum wage ordinance will require three readings at public meetings to pass and the board has the option of additional public hearings before a vote.

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. After that, annual adjustments will be tied to the consumer price index.

A handful of small communities in Johnson County have opted out.

Officials in Polk County also are exploring an increase to their minimum.