opinion

City takes needed first step to fix wage hike error

We are encouraged to see the Las Cruces City Council take the first step toward delaying an unexpected increase to the minimum wage that will take effect on Jan. 1 if the council does not act.

Local business owners were stunned to learn earlier this month that the minimum wage was set to increase from $9.20 to $9.45 at the start of the year. City Manager Stuart Ed, who was not here when the ordinance increasing the minimum wage was passed, said it has a provision calling for a mandatory cost-of-living increase to take effect in 2018.

That would have made sense under the original ordinance, which called for the wage to increase each year from 2015 to 2017, with the automatic increase taking effect after that. The original proposal was later amended, adding a year between each new increase. But they neglected to change the date for the cost-of-living increase.

Both Mayor Ken Miyagishima and Mayor pro tem. Greg Smith said during a work session Tuesday that it was a mistake not to adjust the cost-of-living increase when the changes to the phase-in dates were made.

“We’re simply looking at a correction for a mistake,” Smith said.

Councilor Olga Pedroza took the curious position that she needs more time to determine what the original intent of the council was … curious because she was part of that council. We assume she knows what her own intent was.

Organizers of the campaign to raise the minimum wage agree with delay. Sara Melton of New Mexico Comunidades en Acción y de Fé said pushing the start of the cost-of-living increase back to 2020 would be “in integrity with the original ordinance,” and in keeping with a compromise worked out with business owners.

The cost-of-living provision was supposed to settle what has been an incredibly divisive issue for our community. With the automatic increase tied to economic conditions, there should be certainty for both employers and workers. We shouldn’t still be fighting over this.

It is expected that the new ordinance delaying the increase until 2020 will be introduced at the Nov. 20 council meeting, but the council won’t take a final vote until Dec. 4, when new members are sworn in. That puts local businesses with minimum-wage employees in a tight spot as they attempt to plan their expenses for the coming year.

City Council members should stick to what was clearly their original intent when the ordinance was passed and move back the start date for the cost of living increase.

Once that’s done, they should fix the referendum process to prevent the kind of tinkering by council members that led to this mistake in the first place.