Lexington’s historic vote to raise the minimum wage put business and government officials on the record in what has become a divisive national debate, including some leaders, such as Mayor Jim Gray, who had resisted fully supporting the measure.
Gray expressed ambivalence about the measure, which raises the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour over three years, repeatedly suggesting during the nearly year-long debate that the issue was better suited for state or federal consideration. However, Gray removed any doubt to where he stood before last month’s final vote.
Just prior to the council’s vote Nov. 19, Gray broke his silence, telling the packed council chamber that if approved, he would sign the ordinance and make it law.
“I support this legislation because, on balance, it is the right thing to do,” Gray said. “Those in our community who rely on the minimum wage are long overdue an increase in pay.”
Gray appeared to be echoing widespread complaints that neither Congress nor the Kentucky General Assembly had taken up the issue. The last national minimum wage increase took effect in 2009.
The Urban County Council voted 9-6 in favor of raising the minimum pay, which is expected to impact as many as 41,000 workers in the city, according to one study.
Voting in favor of the ordinance were vice mayor Steve Kay and council members Richard Moloney, James Brown, Shevawn Akers, Jake Gibbs, Susan Lamb, Angela Evans, Jennifer Mossotti and Peggy Henson.
Opposed to the measure were council members Kevin Stinnett, Bill Farmer, Jennifer Scutchfield, Fred Brown, Amanda Bledsoe and Russ Hensley.
Mossotti, the 9th District council member who sponsored the ordinance, called the action “courageous” and compared it to the council’s passing of other controversial legislation, such as a fairness ordinance and a public smoking ban.
“I am absolutely delighted that it passed. I am very happy,” she said. “It was a long process – nine months – and a lot of hard work on the part of council members.”
The first increase, to $8.20 an hour, is scheduled to begin in July 2016.
However, the new wage ordinance faces an uncertain future. Louisville was the first city in the state to hike its minimum wage, but the move is being appealed to the Kentucky Supreme Court by local business groups. At issue is whether local governments have the power to establish minimum wage guidelines within their jurisdictions. Louisville’s Metro Council voted to raise the minimum pay in the state’s largest city in two stages, topping out at $9 an hour in July 2017.
In Lexington prior to the vote, at-large council member Stinnett told the crowd that raising the minimum wage would negatively shift $92 million within the local economy and that businesses would make up for their additional costs with higher consumer prices and cuts in jobs and hours. Instead, said Stinnett, “We have to address the reasons why people are at the minimum wage.”
Hensley, who represents the 12th District, also voted against the wage measure. He said he operates two successful businesses in Lexington but started his career bussing tables at a Ponderosa restaurant in London, Kentucky. On people at the bottom of the pay scale, he said: “You must work and educate yourself to get out of these situations.”
Prior to the vote, and during the public comment portion of the meeting, Tom Lapinski, a retired engineer, urged the council to reject the wage measure. He urged those at the low end of the pay scale to get an education, fight to get ahead and not settle for the minimum wage.
“I came up the hard way,” said Lapinski. “I’ve never worked for minimum wage. I worked for maximum wage.”
Lexington small-business owner Freddy Peralta urged the council to support a higher minimum wage, saying, “$7.25 an hour doesn’t help the people who have to work two or three jobs just to put food on the table.”
After the vote, McKensie Cantrell, an attorney for the Kentucky Equal Justice Center, said she represents employees in hourly wage and overtime pay violations.
“Those people and their children are going to have a better quality of life,” said Cantrell. “They’re kids are going to do better in school. They’re going to be happier and healthier.”