Linn County Supervisors took the first official step towards increasing the minimum wage county-wide with a vote Wednesday morning.

Board members voted 4-1 to approve the first of three increases beginning January 1, 2017. That first increase would boost the current $7.25 minimum wage to $8.25 in all of Linn County. The ordinance would increase the minimum wage by another dollar an hour on January 1, 2018 and again January 1, 2019.

The minimum wage in Linn County then would top out at $10.25 per hour.

But supervisors stripped one part of the ordinance before approving what remained as a whole. The original ordinance included a section that would have used increases in the consumer price index after the year 2020 to automatically adjust the minimum wage.

Supervisor Brent Oleson told the board he did not agree with an automatic “escalator” in the wage proposal and would rather leave it to future county boards to adjust minimum wages then, if needed. By another vote of 4-1 other supervisors agreed to strip that section from the county ordinance.

Supervisor John Harris, who represents the largest sections of rural Linn County, was the lone “no” vote to increasing minimum wages. Harris said he has gotten a lot of comments from small town businesses complaining the final years of the increases would put a burden on the cost of operating a business.

But Harris said he has not heard of any of the smaller communities organizing any opposition or planning a vote to “opt out” of the county-wide wage increase before it begins. Statistics cited by county leaders show the vast majority of minimum wage jobs are in Cedar Rapids, Marion and Hiawatha.

The Linn County ordinance must pass two more readings to take effect. Those votes take place at board meetings September 6th and September 12th.