SALEM -- How's this for a new minimum wage mantra in Portland? $15.52 in 2022.

Weeks after grabbing hold of Oregon's long-simmering minimum wage debate, Gov. Kate Brown on Thursday unveiled a compromise plan that could leave Portland and Oregon with some of the highest rates in the nation -- and potentially keep the issue from reaching what could be a crowded fall ballot.

Brown's plan would set two rates for Oregon. One would cover the Portland metro area, as defined by the region's urban growth boundary, and top out at $15.52 an hour. The other would set a $13.50 minimum for the rest of the state.

Oregon's current minimum wage is $9.25 an hour, $2 more than the national figure. The first increases would take effect in January 2017. Outside the Portland area, the hourly wage would rise to $10.25. Inside the Portland area, the wage will go up 15 percent, to $11.79. After 2022, increases would be indexed to inflation.

"The costs of essentials such as food, child care, and rent are rising so fast that wages can't keep up," Brown said in a statement announcing the plan. "Many Oregonians working full-time can't make ends meet, and that's not right."

The proposal follows weeks of hush-hush talks with legislative leaders, activists, and business and labor lobbyists in search of a deal that eluded lawmakers during last year's session. The talks were so touchy that participants were asked not to reveal them, sources say -- even as word dribbled out this month that an accord was within reach.

The Portland-area urban growth boundary as of September 2015. Gov. Kate Brown has proposed using the boundary as a dividing line for Portland the rest of the state on the minimum wage.

"The proposal was developed after conversations with stakeholders in both the public and private sectors," said the statement from Brown's office. "Their input was essential to finding Oregon's path forward to a higher minimum wage."

The result -- high numbers but a long phase-in -- hints at the struggle Brown's office faced in keeping each of those groups at the table. And it speaks to the tradeoffs Democratic leaders may yet have to make as they maintain consensus and work to turn the governor's idea into law.

Brown will need support from moderate Democrats in rural areas, especially in the Senate. Initial reactions were mixed.

"It's better than I thought it was going to be," said Sen. Arnie Roblan, D-Coos Bay. "I'm not necessarily excited, but it's better than the ballot measures, I think."

Oregon minimum wage January 2016 14 Gallery: Oregon minimum wage January 2016

Backers of a ballot measure that would set the minimum wage at $15 were quick to blast the proposal, saying the six-year lead-in leaves workers hanging.

"It's just too long," said Justin Norton-Kertson, an organizer for 15 Now Oregon. "It's great that Kate Brown recognizes that Portland needs 15 -- even more than 15 -- but it's just too long."

He added: "As of now, we're going to keep pushing to get the signatures we need."

A group of union-backed activists pushing a ballot measure to set the wage at $13.50 remained noncommittal. In a statement, Tom Chamberlain, president of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations Oregon chapter, said the proposal has "some positive elements." But, he said, it does not lift the state ban on local wage increases "and it lengthens the time frame significantly, which is a concern."

Republicans, meanwhile, remained vehemently opposed to any raise.

"I'm terrified," Senate Minority Leader Ted Ferrioli, R-John Day, said of the potential impact on businesses in rural Oregon. "Those businesses are going to move to other states -- Idaho, Nevada, Washington."

Already, one of the business groups that's been closely tracking the issue, the Oregon Restaurant and Lodging Association, has come out against Brown's plan because it doesn't allow employers to count employees' tips toward the minimum wage.

"The governor's proposal, without inclusion of tip credits, will result in tens of thousands of job losses in our great state," Jason Brandt, the group's President and CEO, said in a statement. "If Oregon lawmakers pass a $13.50 minimum wage, it will mark a sad day for the Oregonians who need jobs the most."

Brandt also told The Oregonian/OregonLive that his group was "not at the table" with the governor.

"We've been hearing about it second-hand like the rest of the business community," he said.

The six-year lead-in, meanwhile, would put Oregon and Portland slightly behind other cities and states that have passed significant increases. But by building in such a deliberate waiting period, the plan may ease some concerns from business groups, and even some Democrats, who worry about raising the state's wage too fast and too far.

Some or all of those details could change next month -- with hearings planned for the first week of February.

An agreement that removes the issue from the ballot would free resources that advocates on both sides -- labor and business -- might rather spend on battles over a proposed $2.5 billion-a-year corporate tax increase and a measure that would strip public employee unions of their ability to collect dues from all employees.

The fall ballot also will see Brown vying to return to the office she inherited last February after Gov. John Kitzhaber resigned. Democrats will be working to maintain their large majorities in the House and Senate, and to hold onto statewide posts such as the secretary of state's office.

Brown has been clear since last fall that she supports a higher statewide wage that goes easier on rural economies but that also reflects the expense of living and working in Portland. But she repeatedly declined to give any numbers or say how she thought lawmakers should separate the state from its largest city.

As recently as late November, advocates privately worried her office had waited too late to broker a deal. That nervousness shifted to optimism by late December, after her new chief of staff, Kristen Leonard, took the reins.

Around the same time, Service Employees International Union showed its seriousness by pouring $343,464 into a new Oregon political action committee devoted to the minimum wage issue.

Optimism then shifted into anticipation this week as lawmakers returned to Salem for three days of committee hearings, including a major public hearing on the minimum wage set for Thursday night.

For now, under Brown's plan, Portland's eventual $15.52 wage would slightly top the $15 expected to take effect in cities such as Los Angeles (2020) and San Francisco (2018). Seattle's large employers will start paying a $15 minimum by 2017, with all employers to follow by 2021.

-- Denis C. Theriault and Ian K. Kullgren

503-221-8430; @TheriaultPDX