Palo Alto Looks To Fast Track $15 Minimum Wage
The City Council, during its 5:30 p.m. meeting in council chambers, is expected to discuss the proposal that would follow an effort to have the same minimum wage in all Santa Clara county cities.
The city's policy and services committee has recommended the rate be raised to $12 in 2017, $13.50 in 2018 and $15 in 2019, with raises in the following years to be based on the Bay Area Consumer Price Index in an amount capped at 5 percent.
The city council adopted a minimum wage ordinance last year that currently offers $11 an hour, with increases based on the price index, and would go up to $11.11 next year.
Under the proposal, the higher amount would help workers in the city keep up with rising costs of housing, food, goods and other services, city spokeswoman Claudia Keith said.
Council members are interested in aligning their rate with other cities as part of a regional effort brought by the Cities Association of Santa Clara County, Keith said.
The association has appealed to city leaders in the county for a $15 hourly minimum wage across the region by 2019, three years ahead of a state law passed earlier this year that will increase the rate to $15 an hour in 2022.
The Mountain View and Sunnyvale city councils have already approved their own minimum wage ordinances that will raise the hourly minimum rates to $15 by 2018.
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