BRIDGEPORT — An ordinance that backers say aims to provide a so-called "living wage" for workers on municipal projects has been recommended for full City Council approval by its Ordinance Committee.
The committee voted unanimously last Thursday to recommend the ordinance's approval even though it has not had a cost-impact analysis by Nancy Hadley, city economic development director, and Thomas Sherwood, city budget director.
The full council may vote on the ordinance at its next meeting set for 7 p.m. next Monday in City Hall, following a 6 p.m. public hearing on it.
Keith Rodgerson, I-133, a candidate for mayor on the Bridgeport First Party ticket who sponsored the ordinance with Maria I. Valle, D-137, said the proposal is modeled after one in Norwalk, which followed others adopted in New Haven and Hartford.
He said the ordinance is primarily intended to increase wages and provide health insurance to people working on city construction projects and subsidized developments.
Developers receiving tax breaks from the city or nonprofit groups that get city grant money may fall under jurisdiction of the ordinance, he said.
If developers do not comply, the council could consider revoking any tax incentives.
Rodgerson said the ordinance will provide a definition for a "living wage" within the context of the recently passed minority business enterprise ordinance.
He said it would essentially increase the hourly wage for laborers from the state minimum of $7.65 hourly to $11 and also add another $3 per hour if the employer does not provide health insurance. This hourly rate, based on 115 percent of the poverty threshold for a family of four, would be adjusted annually.
Robert P. Curwen, D-138, an Ordinance Committee member as well as co-chairman of the council's Budget and Appropriations Committee, said, "I'm in favor of the ordinance, but I would like to see a cost analysis."
Curwen said he is concerned about the possible impact on the city budget by paying a higher wage scale.
Even so, he joined the other committee members in voting for the ordinance.
The members said the ordinance would pertain only to projects funded by the city, not to school construction for the Board of Education.
Rodgerson said the ordinance has the support of several unions and the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.
"Norwalk has had good luck with the ordinance as have other cities across the nation," Richard Dietz, vice president of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 1522. "The impact of such an ordinance varies by municipality and project."
Discussing whether the wage issue should be handled on a statewide basis rather than locally, committee members said the living-wage ordinances reflect local and regional rather than state economic conditions.
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