Let's just skip over the long-running argument about whether a higher minimum wage is "moral" or "right" vs. an entry-level job destroying, price-increasing market dislocation that hurts small businesses. Everyone's mind is already made up on that. We can also skip over whether little towns' city councils should be injecting themselves into a state-level or national-level discussion. We can skip over the fairness of the union carve-out and just note that many union wage scales are indexed to the minimum wage, so of course they like the idea. And we can certainly ignore "affordable housing" nags like Cynthia Cornell claiming that a vote against a higher local variant of a minimum wage is an "embarrassment". What we shouldn't ignore is that the Burlingame City Council's 3-2 vote to raise the in-town minimum wage has direct costs to all taxpayers. For example, from the Staff Report
Several cities in the Bay Area, including Redwood City and San Mateo, participate in a joint contract with the City of San Jose’s Office of Equality Assurance to provide enforcement for the local minimum wage ordinance. Staff has been unable thus far to reach anyone at the Office of Equality Assurance to determine if the City of Burlingame will be able to participate in this joint contract and what the cost would be. A City of San Carlos staff report from last year estimates a cost of $15,000 annually. Other cities provide enforcement in-house through their City Attorney’s Office or City Manager’s Office. In both cases, enforcement is complaint-based and follows typical code violationprocedures.
And then tack on a few other costs, like
There will also be additional personnel costs in several City Departments. Staff estimates that increased costs of approximately $8,000 in the Public Works Department in the first year, rising in subsequent years if the Council includes an escalator.
There are probably a few more costs that haven't even been considered. Is it a lot of money? In the grand scheme of the city budget, no. But I'll bet you can think of a few things to do with $30,000 or $40,000 grand a year. And is it worth it in the face of the collateral damage to employers who may even want to pay more, but cannot get it to pencil out? Keep this in mind as you look at your ballot and decide on the split-roll property tax measure (Prop. 15) that will also raise rents on small businesses in town since they are all on triple-net leases and operate in properties worth more than $3 million.
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