The Las Cruces City Council is scheduled to discuss the city’s new minimum wage law next week. Monday’s city council agenda has two items for discussion…the repeal of an ordinance that would have raised the city’s minimum wage to $8.50 by 2016 and a major amendment to the law that is scheduled to raise the wage to $10.10 by 2017. As we first reported, Mayor Pro-Tem Greg Smith said in a KRWG forum that the amendment only referenced the January increase to $8.40. But the Las Cruces Sun News reports in an interview with Mayor Ken Miyagishima, the Mayor said the language in his proposed amendment will be changed to include the 2016 and 2017 minimum wage increases.
However, he said the language will also include a provision for a review by city council as to whether those increases should take place. But what will the council use in its review? In the KRWG forum airing tonight, Mayor Pro-Tem Smith did not provide a specific solution, but referenced the idea of a survey.
Communities in Action and Faith Executive Director Sarah Nolan, whose group collected petitions to get the minimum wage increase before the city council said in the KRWG forum that councilors should not rely on anecdotal data. She suggests a review of Gross Receipts Tax Revenue and other measures.
There is much more on this story, including a KRWG documentary featuring business owners, employees, an economist, and other city officials. Issues and Answers: The Minimum Wage airs tonight at 7 on KRWG Public Television.