WEDNESDAY, JULY 16, 2003
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 5
WAGE: Plan could keep businesses from Lawrence, critics say
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Lew Ebert, president of the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, points out who he thinks will suffer because of Lawrence's proposed living wage ordinance. The Chamber gave its first "No-Biz" award to the city last week, saying the ordinance would harm the state's business atmosphere.
Contributed Photo
ber's plans. He said he would discuss how to proceed with other Chamber members in an upcoming meeting.
"We have to understand what the concerns are and then find ways to address them," Squier said, adding that misinformation surrounded tax abatements and the living wage.
Highberger said he thought the study had merit initially, but then had misgivings. He said living wage studies had been done to death.
"The Chamber is on record as strenuously opposing this ordinance," Highberger said. "I think there will be a perception of bias no matter how fair the study is."
Donna Ginther, associate professor of economics and leader of the study, said it was not likely an empirical study could be done before the Aug.19 commission meeting.
"I don't know what aspects of study will be done or if the study will go forward at all," she said. "An independent evaluation of the impact of living wage ordinances would be useful because very few highquality studies exist."
David Smith, one of six members of the Kaw Valley Living Wage Alliance steering committee, said the Chamber could do a study but there was plenty of data about the issue already.
"The results seem clear," Smith said. "Living wages work."
Mark Goode, president of KU Young Democrats, said all of the Young Democrat leadership supported the living wage.
"I think students should care about the living wage if they are from Lawrence or plan to settle in Lawrence after they leave school," Goode said. He said that it was in the student's interest to be sure the city attracts quality companies to the city with quality jobs.
Along with Lawrence, there are living wage campaigns under way in Wichita and Manhattan as well as for the entire state of Kansas.
Lew Ebert, president of the Kansas Chamber of Commerce, said the Lawrence campaign was the only one moving forward, making the city the winner of its not-so-esteemed "No-Biz" award last week. As the first winner of the newly created "No-Biz" award, Lawrence caught the ire of the Kansas Chamber for what it calls efforts to obstruct businesses with burdensome regulations: namely, the proposed living wage ordinance.
"It's obviously going to put a black eye on the state of Kansas," Ebert said.
Ebert said if the proposal passed, it would cost more money to convince businesses to locate to Kansas.
RECENTLY PASSED LIVING WAGE ORDINANCES
Santa Fe, N.M. — February 2003
Santa Fe becomes the second city,after New Orleans,to enact a citywide minimum wage increase when the City Council approved an $8.50 minimum wage for any business in the city with at least 25 employees. These are the only two cities with wage ordinances that affect more than just city workers and contractors.
New York City—Nov. 27, 2002
Mayor Bloomberg signs into law a living wage ordinance that covers more workers than any other such law in the country. The law applies to about 50,000 employees of service contractors doing business with the city principally health care workers, as well as a handful of day care, food service and disability service workers. The initial living wage is set at $8.10 plus health benefits, or $9.60 if benefits are not
provided by the employer.
"The hidden provisions of the proposed living wage ordinance amount to even more government red tape that will actually stifle the creation of news jobs," Ebert said in a Kansas Chamber news release.
Cincinnati — November 2002
The Broward County Commission approves a living wage law that sets a floor of $9.57 an hour — or $10.82 an hour if health benefits are not provided — for all county employees and companies entering into contracts with the county to provide the following services: food preparation, security, maintenance, clerical work, transportation, landscaping, printing or reproduction.
The Cincinnati City Council enacts a living wage law that obligates the city itself as well as any city service contractor with a contract worth at least $20,000 to pay a living wage of $8.70 an hour plus health benefits, or else $10.20 an hour, adjusted annually.
Source: Living Wage Resource Center
Broward County, Fla. — October 2002
Kirk McClure, a member of the Public Incentives Review Committee, which studies tax abatements for the city, estimated no more than five companies currently receiving abatements pay below a living wage. He said he didn't know if the proposal would address these companies,
"There is already a labor shortage, so there is little need to provide tax abatements to produce low-pay jobs," he said.
but that he didn't expect the City Commission to pass abatements to companies that provide low-wage jobs.
The last abatement commissioners granted was earlier this year for Serologicals Corp., which paid wages above the living wage.
— Edited by Kevin Wiggs
Living wage effectiveness views vary among cities
Baltimore has had a living wage for nearly a decade. Omaha, Neb., had enough after just one year.
The seven-member Omaha City Council passed the living-wage ordinance in Spring 2000 by a 5 to 2 vote. It applied to both city workers and city contractors. Former Mayor Hal Daub veted the measure, but the City Council then overrode the veto.
A little more than a year later, a similar scene played out as the city found itself in a budget crisis.
The City Council voted to repeal the ordinance by the same vote. The financial means to pay city workers, such as pool lifeguards and ticket takers were limited. Instead of the $9 an hour living wage, those wages went down to $6.50 or $7 an hour. Again, former Mayor Mike Fahey vetoed the plan only to have the City Council overturn his veto. Fahey had wanted only the city workers to be removed from the plan as a compromise.
As Omaha's elected leaders tangled with the plan, Baltimore had more than five years of experience with its living wage ordinance.
Baltimore, the first town to adopt a citywide living-wage ordinance in December 1994, has a different story to tell. Former Mayor Kurt Schmoke told The New York Times in an April 9, 1996, article that the costs to the city were less than 1 percent of the city's revenues. It requires city contractors to submit payroll records to the Baltimore Wage Commission to ensure the companies adhere to the city's policy.
In late May and early June, workers brought a complaint against Aramark Sports and Entertainment Services, which operates the concessions at the Baltimore Convention Center, and said they did not receive the $8.49 living wage.
The Baltimore Wage Commission is still investigating the matter. The city penalizes companies that do not pay workers a living wage $50 per worker, per day.
— Ehren Meditz