Published: February 25, 2010

Miami Beach finally might raise its living wage for the first time since passing the law nearly a decade ago.

Commissioners sitting on the city's finance committee voted last week to raise the living wage rate -- currently at the 2001 level of $8.56 an hour for employees with benefits -- to $11.28 an hour by the 2012-13 budget year.

The first raise of $1.50 should come in October.

Officials expect vendors to pass on the cost of raising the hourly rate to the city government and estimates the price tag at about $1.3 million over the next three years. About $547,000 of that will come from the city's general fund, with the rest coming from the city's enterprise fund, which includes sanitation, water, sewer, stormwater, parking, and convention center departments.
The living wage applies to employees of the city and vendors with contracts worth more than $100,000.

The decision to raise the hourly rate came amid realization that though the 2001 law creating the wage calls for an annual update -- or ``indexing'' -- one never happened. The law states that the commission can vote to keep the rate flat in dire financial situations, but that never happened either.
The city's lapse has led to the threat of a lawsuit from Antonio Jones, a security guard who works at city hall. Jones' attorney, Jose Javier Rodriguez, wrote a letter to the city last month indicating that Jones would take legal action should the city not index the wage by Feb. 10.

Rodriguez had not filed suit as of Monday and said it appears the city is moving in the right direction.
``We are still ready to proceed legally if they don't do the right thing,'' he said.

The raise also comes at a time when the city estimates a $26 million shortfall in next year's budget and with some questioning whether the city is usurping the role of the free market. The minimum wage in Florida and federally is $7.25 an hour.

Last month, Commissioner Jonah Wolfson questioned whether the city may be inflating the value of some jobs beyond what they are worth.

But Commissioner Jerry Libbin, who sits on the finance committee, said the city needs to follow through with its commitment, regardless of looming cuts.

``It's never a good time,'' Libbin said Monday in a phone interview. ``But these salaries really should have been raised, as we know, since 2001. I really can't justify holding off for a good year.''

Libbin also noted that the approximately $279,000 hit to this year's general fund would be but a fraction of the city's $226 million general operating budget.

It is also a fraction of the $3 million to $5 million that staff and commissioners agreed was likely saved by not indexing the living wage since 2001.

The issue of the living wage should return to the finance committee next month, as the committee has called for a reworking of the law that established the wage. Among the proposals: including language that calls for an annual date to decide whether the wage should be updated or left flat.