Asheville temp workers, lifeguards now get $12.50 hourly

ASHEVILLE — U.S. Cellular Center ticket counter workers, city lifeguards and other municipal temporary and seasonal workers will now be paid at least $12.50 an hour.

That raise to a “living wage” for more than 100 workers follows a Tuesday 5-1 vote by the City Council. The move will cost taxpayers $250,000 this year.

The change brings up about 150 employees to a minimum level now enjoyed by more than 1,000 other municipal workers. Proponents of the move said it is important for the city to encourage other employers to raise wages and it is important to set a good example.

“In doing it, we are inviting the rest of the community to join us,” Councilman Gordon Smith said.

Jan Davis, the one council member opposing the move, and even some council members who supported it, said it was a difficult decision that could have repercussions on staffing, services to residents and the use of interns.

Eight years ago, the council voted to pay employees a living wage, calculated most recently to be $12.50 an hour or $11 an hour if the employer provides health insurance. That amount is tied to local housing costs and is intended to allow workers to spend no more than 30 percent of income on rent.

There is no law or local rule mandating that businesses or other employers pay anything over the state minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. The city at one time had a rule that most large private municipal contractors must pay a living wage, but that was outlawed by a Republican-majority General Assembly.

Absent a law, a local movement led by the nonprofit Just Economics of WNC has pushed and encouraged employers to voluntarily make the change, celebrating those organizations as “Living Wage Certified Employers.” Just Economics sets the standard for the local living wage.

Recently, some council members pointed out that a large number of city workers were left out of that consideration. Those are employees working jobs in the Cellular Center and for the parks and recreation department which are often needed only at peak times, such as when big concerts are booked or during summer months when use of recreation facilities is heavy.

The council passed the budget for the fiscal year starting July 1 without a final decision on the mass raise but had budgeted an extra $250,000 thinking it likely to happen. The budget included a $1.7 million raise for employees, a $1.5 million state-mandated cut to business taxes and a 1.5-cent property tax increase.

Councilwoman Gwen Wisler voted yes but said the wage hike would likely cause the city to scale back what she said was an important high school intern program because of higher costs.

“That doesn’t make me very happy,” Wisler said. “But it’s not enough for me not to vote for a living wage across the board.”

Davis, who as a council member sits on the board overseeing the Cellular Center, said to continue paying the higher wages in following years, the center and the recreation department might have to scale back employee hours and services they provide.

The councilman who was the lone no vote said he pays a living wage at his tire business and generally supports the effort, “but some of these people are seasonal and temporary employees who would rather have the hours even at a lesser wage ... because this is not how they make a living.”

Councilman Cecil Bothwell said the plans as he understood them called for no cuts to hours or workers. “What was the $250,000 for then?” he said. Bothwell said he would have liked to see an even higher hourly rate.

“I would push for $15,” he said.

City Manager Gary Jackson who is responsible for organizing and presenting the budget said that there is “no plan at this point to cut hours or discontinue anyone’s employment during the current fiscal year.”

Davis said pressure to cut employees could increase with changing economic times and as 2-3 new council members take seats next year. "To me, it's important that the number of lifeguards that deliver that service today are delivering that service next summer."