The City of North Miami Beach (“City”) has an interest in protecting the public health, safety and welfare of its residents by establishing certain compensation requirements for its own employees and employees of vendors that enter into service contracts with the City. To that end, the proposed Living Wage Ordinance sets minimum compensation for full time City employees and employees of certain City vendors, so that those covered by the ordinance can support themselves and their families with dignity. Under the proposed ordinance, all full time City employees and employees of service providers who contract with the City must be paid at least $12.85 per hour with $3.17 per hour towards health care benefits, and if no health benefits are provided, $16.02 per hour. The living wage compensation requirement has the potential to decrease the number of employees whose incomes are below the poverty level, and increase consumer income which also has the potential to invigorate neighborhood business, help reduce blight in the City, and reduce the need for taxpayer-funded subsidies.
While Florida does have legislation preempting cities from establishing minimum wages that are contrary to state or federal wage requirements, Florida Statute 218.077(3)(a)(1)-(2) specifically provides that a City is not limited in its ability to establish a minimum wage for employees of the City, as well as for the employees of an employer contracting to provide goods or services for the City, or for the employees of a subcontractor of such an employer. In determining a base hourly living wage rate, the City relied upon the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Living Wage Calculator, which utilizes a market-based approach that draws upon geographically specific expenditure data related to a person’s minimum costs for basic necessities.
Pursuant to the MIT Living Wage Calculator the proposed amendment establishes a living wage rate of no less than $12.85 per hour with health care benefits and $16.02 per hour with no health benefits offered. The additional proposed code amendments provide that all full-time City employees will be paid the living wage no later than January 1, 2020, that the living wage may be updated by a resolution of the City Commission based upon the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, that new service contracts in excess of fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) entered into after September 30, 2021, shall be subject to the living wage requirements, and that certain contracts shall be excluded from the living wage requirements including allowing the City Commission to waive the requirement when it is in the best interests of the City. |