Adopt a living wage now

The results are final for the county’s Measure A sales tax increase, purported to be a partial remedy for fixing local roads. The sharp split among voters at Tuesday’s ballot confirmed some serious doubts about county leaders’ tax mathematics.
It will take some time to measure the wider messages of this single-issue election. Meanwhile, we urge all parties of the Measure A debate to support a different county spending proposal, one that does not require a tax increase.
Next week, the county Board of Supervisors will consider a Living Wage Ordinance to set a minimum $15 per hour wage for county government employees and contractors. As many as 7,000 workers could win wage increases at a cost of about $30 million to the county’s annual operating budget.
If approved, Sonoma County would join 140 other cities and counties across the country with similar living wage laws, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Marin, San Jose, San Diego and Oakland. Locally, Sebastopol, Petaluma and Sonoma already have passed similar ordinances, slightly below the $15 level.
As we have previously written, we urge the supervisors to enact this ordinance, which is also supported by North Bay Jobs with Justice, the North Bay Labor Council, the North Bay Organizing Project, the Sierra Club, Sonoma County Conservation Action and the Sonoma County Democratic Party.
A Living Wage Ordinance is also an affordable housing law, an equal education opportunity act and a healthcare services expansion ordinance — all rolled into one. Higher wages mean more workers and their families can move closer to home ownership, paid college tuition and affordable health insurance.
The greatest impact of a county Living Wage will be to the county’s almost 5,000 In-Home Supportive Service (IHSS) care providers who currently earn a top wage of $11.65 with no overtime or travel pay.
The difference of a few dollars per hour is huge; it defines which side of the Federal Poverty Line on which a family will live. Currently, 12 percent of local families live in poverty. But the Federal Poverty Line is far below what is defined as a living wage.
In Sonoma County, a “living wage” for a family of two adults and two children is calculated at just over $50,000 in annual income. That covers the basics of of housing, food, medicine and travel, sometimes with enough left over for education and a modest vacation. The Federal Poverty Line for the same household is just $23,550.
Many of the county’s in-home caregivers make even less. In fact, a county employee who maintains a backhoe or a telephone system makes much more than an IHSS worker who maintains the health and independence of another human being.
These income and poverty lines make California’s new minimum wage of $9 per hour look like an “indecent wage” and not a decent one. That hourly rates equals just $18,720 per year for a full-time job, most likely with zero benefits.
If local government leaders seem so willing to spend so much effort on a sales tax increase to raise $40 million to fix potholes, the least they could do is pay the same attention on the workers that will actually do the work.
We don’t like more taxes and we think local governments can both fix our roads and provide livable wages by solving runaway pension deficits and trimming top-heavy public administrators’ compensation. At least that would be a good start.
It isn’t fair for a county-employed in-home aide to be denied overtime or travel pay while the county pays its top executives and department managers some of the highest wages in all of California.
The county supervisors’ vote next Tuesday to approve a Living Wage Ordinance should be accompanied with a future budget plan to bring all county government pay levels (and pensions) into a more equitable pay structure, including a review of all salaries from the very top to the very bottom.
Our elected county supervisors can set a good example of “pay equity” that all private sector employers can follow. We all know Sonoma County’s great quality of life comes with added expenses. Besides government employees, all wine, hospitality, childcare and service workers deserve a living wage, too.
— Rollie Atkinson