The city of South Portland is joining three other Maine communities that are considering whether to create a local minimum wage higher than the state minimum.

South Portland’s City Council discussed the possibility during a workshop this week, agreeing that the current state minimum of $7.50 an hour is too low, but differing on the hourly rate they believe is needed.

Mayor Linda Cohen said the topic deserves another workshop and is recommending that the council waits until June or July before making a decision. By that time, the city will know the fate of a bill introduced by Gov. Paul LePage to block municipalities from raising the rate locally.

If neither the state nor federal government acts to raise the wage, Cohen believes communities should take a regional approach to raising it on a uniform basis so as not to pit one town against another.

She said if South Portland were to raise its minimum wage, businesses might leave for a town that has not raised its minimum wages – such as Scarborough.

“Lets not pit one community against another,” Cohen said. “We don’t know what the shift (in workforce and businesses) is going to be.”

Portland is scheduled to vote next month on whether to raise the minimum wage from $7.50 an hour to $8.75 an hour, according to Portland Mayor Michael Brennan. Brennan favored going with a higher rate of $9.50 an hour, but his proposal was overridden by a recommendation of the City Council’s Finance Committee.

Under the committee recommendation, Brennan said the city’s minimum wage would be set at $8.75 an hour as of Jan. 1. The rate would increase gradually every two years before being capped at $9.75 an hour in 2020.

Brennan said Portland could become the first municipality in Maine to raise the minimum wage. The City Council is scheduled to take a final vote on the measure June 15 – a date that could get pushed back depending on whether the city can agree next week on a municipal budget, Brennan said.

Portland’s Green Independent Party also is trying to gather enough signatures on a petition – the deadline is June 19 – to force a November referendum vote. The Greens want to see the minimum wage in Portland raised to $15 an hour, more than twice the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour.

Augusta’s City Council held an “informational” discussion Thursday night on Ward 4 Councilor Anna Blodgett’s proposal to set a city minimum wage of $8.25 an hour. Small local businesses with four or fewer employees and businesses where employees receive tips, such as restaurants, would be exempted.

Earlier this year, Bangor Councilor Joe Baldacci submitted a proposal to raise the minimum wage to $8.25 an hour by Jan. 1. The plan calls for the minimum wage to reach $9.75 an hour by 2018. Bangor has not acted on Baldacci’s proposal.

Cohen, South Portland’s mayor, would support an even higher rate of $10 an hour than the one Portland has proposed. Cohen said she would support a regional approach to increasing the minimum wage, one in which all of the greater Portland communities adopt the same wage rate.

“It’s hard to sit there and say that the minimum wage doesn’t need to be raised,” Cohen said Thursday night. “I do believe that it needs to be increased.”

Newly elected South Portland city councilor Brad Fox brought the minimum wage issue before the City Council’s Monday workshop. Fox said he would prefer that the federal or state government raise the minimum wage, but he doesn’t see that happening.

Fox would be comfortable with a minimum wage of $9.25 an hour.

“I hope we can move forward with this,” Fox said. “It’s the right thing to do. Right now, the minimum wage is too low.”

Kennebec Journal Staff Writer Keith Edwards contributed to this story.

 

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