City Council sent proposed wage hike back to committee.
Will Baltimore Pass a $15 Minimum Wage in 2016?
A measure that would raise
Baltimore’s minimum wage in increments to $15 per hour by 2022 didn’t receive
the votes it needed to pass the City Council last month. Although this is good
news for small business owners, the issue is not dead.
The council voted 8-6, with one
abstention, to send the bill back to committee to continue work, meaning that
it wasn’t ultimately defeated. Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke, the chief sponsor
of the measure, described the bill as “alive and well,” and it’s expected to
face better odds of winning after the November election.
The Baltimore Development Corp.
surveyed 322 businesses in the city and found that, with a $15 minimum wage, 97
would have to reduce workers’ hours, 69 would have to lay off workers, 56 would
have to close up shop entirely, and 33 would have to move out of Baltimore, the
Baltimore Sun reported.
As the bill is currently written,
city youth job programs, Maryland Zoo workers, full-time primary and middle
school students, work-study students, interns, and small businesses with fewer
than 25 employees or less than $500,000 in gross income would be exempt from
the wage mandate.
This debate has come on the heels of
a statewide increase to $8.75 per hour this summer, and it will increase again
to $10.10 by 2018.
