City delays decision on living wage
Commissioners iron out details; county official criticizes lack of communication
Lawrence city commissioners put off final action on a living-wage requirement Tuesday as they continued to hash out details — and as criticism emerged from a county official.
Douglas County Commission Chairman Bob Johnson told the Journal-World he was frustrated city officials had not consulted with their county counterparts as they moved closer to approving the requirement.
The city’s tax abatement policy, Johnson said, calls Douglas County a “partner” in the economic development process. The living-wage requirement would amend that policy; it does not require county approval to be changed.
“We’re one of the partners, and no one has talked to us about it,” Johnson said of the proposed changes. “In my opinion, that’s not a good move, and it’s not how partnerships grow and thrive.”
Mayor David Dunfield was unmoved. He noted that members of the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce have been active in shaping the legislation.
“The chamber is the other partner and has been quite involved in partnering on this issue,” Dunfield said. “It’s not as if this is a surprise. We elected three (city) commissioners in April who pledged to make the living wage an issue.”
But Johnson noted that former Mayor Jim Henry went out of his way to invite county participation in 2001 when the current tax abatement policy was being drafted.
“It seems to me it would be shame not to do everything we could not to give all the parties that profess to partners a chance to participate in the dialogue,” Johnson said.
Final action on the ordinance — which would require companies that receive tax abatements to pay their employees a wage of at least 130 percent of the federal poverty level for a family of three — was not delayed because of Johnson’s criticisms. Instead, commissioners continued to wrestle with the details of how the ordinance will be enforced.
They decided that employees would have the option of taking either health insurance benefits or an extra $1.50 an hour from the abated companies. And they decided that students hired for summer jobs would not be eligible for the wage.
Companies could lose their abatement if they failed to meet the requirement in two consecutive years. And a split commission reaffirmed that the wage requirement would apply only to future abatements — existing companies won’t have to pay the living wage to old employees; only for jobs created by new abatements.
“I think we have to be careful that we don’t provide a disincentive for existing companies to expand,” Commissioner Sue Hack said.
“To do otherwise,” Dunfield said, “is to punish people for doing business here and wanting to expand.”
The issue returns to the commission in two weeks.
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