Wilmington ponders contractor wage boost

Wilmington Councilman Darius Brown wants to raise the minimum pay to $10.10 an hour for employees working at businesses contracted by the city.

The move would put the city in line with New Castle County, which in March boosted the minimum wage for government workers and contractors to $10.10.

Brown, who has been involved in several local low-wage protests, introduced his ordinance Thursday night.

"Companies doing business with the city ... should adhere to an important value in my opinion, which is offering employees a livable wage that enables them to more effectively support themselves and their families," Brown said before the meeting.

City Council President Theo Gregory said he sees several kinks in the proposed ordinance that need to be addressed.

"In my opinion, it's going to cause costs to go up," he said. "But the other is that we do things as small as purchase food from food service vendors, and I know that they don't pay minimum wage because that's not the culture of their business. The culture of their business is tips."

In January, Gov. Jack Markell signed into law a minimum wage hike for all Delawareans. The minimum wage is $7.75 and will rise to $8.25 next June.

Wilmington Sen. Robert Marshall failed to get support for a measure he introduced in the most recent session that would have increased the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour in 2016.

The proposed city ordinance would affect contracts signed on or after Jan. 1 and would not apply to contractors providing services in industries with no immediate competitors.

None of the approximately 1,100 city workers are paid minimum wage, city officials said Thursday.

Gregory said the city does not track the wages paid by its vendors.

He then cautioned that the proposal could be problematic for the city budget.

The city will likely need to hire at least one additional employee to make sure the vendors are meeting the minimum wage law, Gregory said.

"Who's going to do that?" he said. "It's a one, two-person staff. We're trying to cut staff."

The ordinance doesn't say how the new minimum wage would affect the city's budget, but said "expenses may increase ... as contractors impacted by this ordinance may pass on any additional costs of paying the higher minimum wage directly to the city through increased contract pricing."

The impact statement, however, said the higher wages may result in more wage tax revenue for the city.

Brown said he is continuing to develop the proposal.

While some council members said that they'd like to give the ordinance a closer look, they say the proposal looks like a step in the right direction.

"For this to be the richest country in the world, we ought to start treating our citizens like we really care and we appreciate their service," said Councilman Mike Brown. "They still got to go out to the store to buy eggs, buy milk, pay for daycare. They still got to get on the bus, and that costs money."

Councilwoman Loretta Walsh, a member of the council's finance committee, said she's supported a minimum wage hike for adults who are increasingly depending on low-wage labor to make a living. She said the job market for those adults has worsened as once decent-paying sectors, such as auto manufacturing, have slashed jobs.

"For 18 and over, and perhaps 21 and over, I think it's imperative in our country," Walsh said. "I'm for establishing a liveable standard for people."

The ordinance falls into a greater movement across the country to raise the pay of low-wage earners. In many cities over the past several months, fast-food workers, including some in the Wilmington area, have gone on strike to call for a minimum wage of $15 an hour.

Walsh said $10.10 is the "starting point for the discussion."

While Darius Brown's ordinance carries similarities to the county and state efforts, his legislation perhaps more closely resembles the executive order President Barack Obama signed in February that increased the minimum pay of thousands of federally contracted employees to $10.10 an hour.

Efforts to raise the minimum wage have been opposed by lobbyists and small-business owners who argue a higher minimum wage could cost jobs and hurt the state's economic recovery.

But Cassandra Marshall, president of the Quaker Hill Neighborhood Association, which covers an area inhabited by many low-wage earners, said the increase in pay could help reduce the amount of the money the state and federal governments spend on health care and other social aid.

"It's important for wages to keep up with the cost of living," she said.

Gregory said the ordinance will be discussed at the next finance committee meeting scheduled for Oct. 6.

Contact Yann Ranaivo at (302) 324-2837, yranaivo@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @YannRanaivo.