Redwood City residents are encourage to provide feedback regarding a local minimum wage proposal for the city.
At a City Council meeting on March 27, city staff plan to propose establishing the minimum wage at $15 per hour starting in January 2019. Alternative wage minimums will be considered based on council and community feedback.
On Jan. 24, a community meeting is scheduled at the Veterans Memorial Center at 1455 Madison Ave, 7 p.m., to allow community members to ask questions and offer input about the proposed wage increase. Residents can also provide feedback online here.
“Should Redwood City establish a local minimum wage, the new rate would apply to all businesses that are established within Redwood City and to those businesses whose employees provide a service within Redwood City at least two hours a week,” the city reported on Medium.com. “No exceptions are proposed to exempt any businesses or employees from this provision.”
The current federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, while the state’s is $10.50 an hour for businesses with less than 26 employees and $11 an hour for those with 26 or more employees. After a 2016 state measure passed, California’s minimum wage will gradually increase on an annual basis to $15 per hour by 2022, after which it will increase based upon the Consumer Price Index, but no more than 3.5 percent per year.
Redwood City would be one of more than a dozen local cities to establish a minimum wage higher than the state of California’s due to the Bay Area’s high cost of living, according to city staff.
For more information about these efforts to establish a local minimum wage or to submit comments via email, go here.
