Tuesday’s council meeting was sparsely attended compared to other budget seasons — only five people spoke during the public hearing, outnumbered by speakers on other topics. Two voiced clear opposition to raising taxes to boost city wages, and a representative of the firefighters’ union voiced strong support for that goal.
The proposal would increase Wilmington’s tax rate by 5.75 cents — 4 cents of that goes to the living wage effort, which is the brainchild of new city manager Becky Hawke.
"That living wage philosophy would really set a floor for what the lowest salaries would be for City of Wilmington employees, and we use that metric because a living wage is what is considered necessary to be able to afford to pay your rent, to buy food, to have health care and child care," she said.
The salary floor would be set at 60% of AMI for the lowest-income earners, or around $45,000. Almost the entire city staff would see wage increases around 19%, though staff earning more than the region’s Area Median Income would see their increase capped at $15,000.
In the public hearing, one opponent, Tom Harris, who is the co-owner of Front Street Brewery in downtown Wilmington , said the budget proposal raised city staff's wages at the expense of taxpayers, and went above market rate for local wages.
Another opponent, downtown resident Tom Morton, said he is a retiree on a fixed income. He said the revaluation last year drove his tax bill up by $500, and this 20% increase it by another $380.
"I support a phase-in of the pay increase over a three-year period, funded with expenditure savings and much smaller tax increases over time," he suggested.
A few city staffers sat in the audience — mostly in silence, but quietly voiced their support of the living wage to a reporter, pointing to the difficulty making ends meet on their current low wages.
However, Jordan Pettidm, an engineer with the city's fire department, spoke representing the members of Local 129: the firefighter's union.
"Many of us work second jobs just to make ends meet and still come work for the fire department. We love what we do," he said. He pointed to last year's explosion on New Center Drive, which injured three first responders.
"It made national news, but there's plenty of calls that we go on that they don't make the news on a daily basis, between car accidents, CPR, whatever it may be. When somebody needs us, we always show up," he said. "So, I think for us from the union, we stand for the budget, and I would say, I would venture to guess, I know we have a lot of city employees in the room right now. I would venture to guess we stand in support of all city employees."
City Council seemed broadly supportive of the effort, and in their Friday work session instead focused on about $60,000 in savings on a few smaller budget items — including raises for city council, which would have cost around $30,000.
During the Friday meeting, Councilmember Kevin Spears suggested getting rid of a few high-wage manager positions, but didn’t get support for that idea. Hawke will also provide more information on a homeless shelter and an option for a slower implementation of a living wage at the council’s next work session, May 29.
Council is slated to vote on its budget at two meetings next month, June 2 and June 16.
