SANTA ROSA, Calif. (KRON) — On Tuesday, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to raise the county’s living wage to $16.75 an hour.
The Board’s decision to raise the minimum wage is the first increase since the landmark ordinance to combat poverty was adopted in 2015.
Starting Jan. 1, 2022 — the 11.7% increase will set a minimum wage for all individuals employed directly by the County of Sonoma and workers in some private companies and nonprofits that contract with the county.
The increase in wage keeps pay rates for county government employees and contract workers ahead of the state minimum wage — which also rises on Jan. 1 to $14 an hour for employers with 25 or fewer workers and $15 an hour for employers with 26 or more workers.
“This conversation fundamentally is about economic dignity. We are trying to invest in the kind of society that we want to live in,” said Lynda Hopkins, chair of the Board of Supervisors.
“We are united and going in the right direction.”
In December 2015, the living wage ordinance was enacted to help low-wage workers earn an hourly wage that enables them to live with dignity and to achieve economic self-sufficiency.
The county Department of General Services estimates the wage increase will add $542,000 in annual costs to the contracts it manages, including contracts for janitorial services, fleet repairs, auto parts, targeted grazing, sanitation services, veterans building management and security services.
The new wage increase will be phased in to apply for existing contracts by April 1, 2022 — which applies to private companies with six or more employees if they supply $25,000 annually or more in contracted services to the county, and nonprofits that have 25 or more employees and supply more than $50,000 annually in services to the county.
The requirements also apply to entities that annually receive more than $100,000 in economic development
assistance.
The county says all county government suppliers must certify they have complied with the living wage ordinance during the contracting process.
For five years, the wage in the county stood at $15 an hour but due to repeated natural disasters from 2017 to 2022, delayed the county’s annual review of the ordinance to make any adjustments in wage until September 2021.
County leaders agreed to consider additional changes to the ordinance in 2022, including a proposal by North Bay Jobs with Justice and the North Bay Labor Council to provide 12 paid sick/personal leave days to all covered employees.