City council takes up living wage

By Jon Zemke

Daily Staff Reporter

Ann Arbor joined Ypsilanti, Detroit and New York among other cities to adopt a living wage ordinance last night with a 7-4 vote by the Ann Arbor City Council.

"This is the right thing to do," said Councilman Chris Kolb (D-Ward V), who was one of the seven council members to vote in favor of the ordinance. "This is what we must do."

The living wage ordinance mandates contractors and grantees of the city to pay their employees a minimum wage of $10 per hour or $8.50 per hour plus medical benefits.

The ordinance doesn't pertain to city employees directly, only to the employees of contractors or grantees who receive money from the City of Ann Arbor.

But the proposal doesn't mean that all employees of the contractors or grantees will be paid the minimum wage. Only those that work on the site or in the facility that is contracted with the city will have to be paid the living wage.

City Administrator Neal Berlin provided a draft resolution to the mayor and council listing three options on how the living wage will be designated. Each option also provided "an estimated financial impact."

The first and most expensive option listed guaranteed all "seasonal and temporary employees" a minimum of $10 per hour. According to Berlin's memorandum to the council, he estimated the cost at $429,000 plus the ripple effect of existing positions more then $10 per hour.

The second option would cost the city an estimated $83,000 to pay part-time and seasonal positions that continue for more than 1,040 hours per year.

The final option would extend to positions that exist beyond 10 continuous months in the fiscal year at a cost of $88,700.

The council will take the options under advisement and decide how the living wage will be designated at a later date.

The only positions exempt from the ordinance are bona fide training programs, work study programs and summer youth training programs under contractors and grantees.

The only contractors or grantees that could be exempt from the living wage are those that receive less than $10,000 per year in funding or carry less than 10 employees.

The effects on the living wage on the University are yet to be determined. The University derives $89,000 in funding from the city of Ann Arbor and doesn't fall under either of the contractor's exemptions.

In public commentary before the City Council debated and voted on the issue, five members of the Ann Arbor community came out and endorsed the ordinance.

Ann Arbor resident John Martin said the living wage would be beneficial for non-profit organizations in the city.

"It's an opportunity for non-profits to walk and talk," he said.

During the vote, the lines were drawn right down party lines with all the Republicans, including Ann Arbor Mayor Ingrid Sheldon, voting against the ordinance.

"We'll end up depriving people of jobs," said John Upton (R-Ward II). "We'll end up depriving senior citizens who want to work for $6.50 an hour and we're impacting students who want jobs."

But the majority of council members are Democrats, turning the vote in favor of passing with a comfortable margin.

"We have the will at this table to join other cities in the living wage," said Elizabeth Daley (D-Ward V). "I think we also have the will to measure the effects of this ordinance."

MARJORIE MARSHALL/Daily

Graduate student Leon Brown practices "participant observation" as he sits in on an Ann Arbor City Council meeting yesterday.