Milwaukee County Supervisors Debating if Living Wage Should Be Increased to $15

 Milwaukee County supervisors are debating if the living wage should be increased to $15 an hour by 2022.

Milwaukee County Supervisor Marcelia Nicholson announced a proposal to raise the County’s living wage to $15 an hour by 2022, and tie future annual increases to the rate of inflation.

“Raising the living wage to $15 is the right thing to do for workers who provide County services: from the private security guards who work at the Marcia Coggs center, to the concessions cashiers at our airport, to the janitors who empty my wastebasket every night at the Courthouse.

Supervisor Nicholson’s proposed change to Chapter 111 of the Milwaukee County Code of General Ordinances would raise the living wage to $12.25 on January 1, 2017, then to $13 on January 1, 2018, and increase it by $.50 every year until it reaches $15 on January 1, 2022.

According to a release by Milwaukee County Supervisor Nicholson, the proposal requires increases tied to the rate of inflation every year starting on January 1, 2023, but maintains certain exemptions as defined in the existing living wage law.

County Executive Chris Abele vetoed a living wage proposal in 2014. That veto was overridden.

Abele proposed in his 2017 budget a path to $15 living wage. 

The budget would establish a sustainable path to a $15 per hour minimum wage for county workers and contractors by 2021.