By Susan DeFord
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 5, 2007

Supporters of a proposal for Howard County to pay what would be Maryland's highest "living wage" say the measure would benefit low-income working families, but critics question whether it will hurt employers.

Council Chairman Calvin Ball (D-East Columbia) submitted legislation this month requiring some county contractors to pay their workers at least $12.41 an hour. The proposal would apply to contractors that have five or more workers and do at least $100,000 in business annually with the county. Nonprofit organizations doing business with the county would be exempt.

Jennifer Terrasa (D-Southeast County) co-sponsored the bill. The measure is scheduled for a public hearing on July 16 at 7:30 p.m.

"The fiscal impact is quite negligible, but what it can do for a family is invaluable," Ball said Tuesday. "Government is there to help people who may not be able to help themselves."

However, the Howard Chamber of Commerce opposes the bill, saying that it "undermines the purpose of the competitive bidding process."

"The business community has long maintained that wages should be set in the marketplace, not by government," the chamber said in a statement.

The Howard debate reflects many of the arguments heard in the spring when the Maryland General Assembly enacted a state living wage bill. Maryland is the first state to require that state government contractors pay their employees significantly more than the state minimum wage of $6.15 an hour. Under the new state law, contractors in the Washington-Baltimore corridor, including Howard, must pay $11.30 an hour, and rural counties have a minimum of $8.50 an hour.

Montgomery and Prince George's counties and the city of Baltimore also have set living wage rates, at $11.60, $11.25 and $9.62, respectively.

Ball said his proposal sets the bar as 125 percent of the federal poverty guideline. Under his proposal, a full-time worker would earn about $26,000 a year, which he said "is not a lot of money" in a county where estimates of median household income top $90,000, one of the country's highest. The number of Howard households receiving food stamps grew more than 40 percent from 2002 to 2005, to about 2,300, according to state data.

Ball reiterated positions of advocacy groups such as Progressive Maryland that say a living wage has minimal fiscal effect on local governments, increasing contract costs by less than the rate of inflation.

He said that if opponents of the bill "have data that this would drive up the cost of government, they should provide that data, and I would look at it."

County Executive Ken Ulman (D) said he wants to know what the bill would cost the government, adding, "We have no idea what that is."

His staff is assessing the fiscal effects of the legislation, but gathering numbers from county subcontractors may be difficult.

"It's just so hard to make a decision without all the facts," Ulman said. "I'm keeping an open mind."

Council member Greg Fox (R-Western Howard) said the bill sends the "wrong message" to the business community.

"If it's the right thing to do, why are there so many exemptions?" he said. "It is more of a symbolic than substantive measure."

Council members Courtney Watson (D-Northeast County) and Mary Kay Sigaty (D-West Columbia) haven't taken positions on the legislation.

Sigaty said one of her concerns is that the county has wage categories that pay hourly rates that are lower than the proposed living wage, though she said there may be no government workers in those categories.

Like Fox, she has questions about exemptions listed in the bill.

"We are exempting nonprofits from paying a living wage to their employees," she said. "Why is it just for-profit companies that have to pay a living wage?"