Supervisor Jake McGoldrick: Increase the Minimum Wage

While the city and county of San Francisco is ending the current fiscal year with an unexpected surplus of $137.3 million, the controller's office has projected a $12.5 million shortfall for the fiscal year 2006-2007, even if the surplus is assumed.

Recently, there have been a number of supplemental appropriations from the mayor and SF Board of Supervisors, which prioritized the spending of the surplus revenues on furthering living wage legislation, street resurfacing, affordable housing, violence prevention, juvenile hall construction and parks renovation.

The City needs a comprehensive plan to address homicide and violence prevention. So far, there is none. Allocating more money to policing and to certain community programs, but not to others, is not the solution. Violence prevention means we need to set performance criteria, have benchmarks and set measurable standards.

We need to be more thoughtful. Relevant city institutions must meet with community stakeholders and create a plan before money is allocated. As I consider these supplemental appropriations, I am prioritizing "family economic self sufficiency." San Francisco adopted this goal a few years ago, where local governments help families achieve economic self-sufficiency through legislative initiatives and budgetary decisions.

Self-sufficiency means that individuals and families earn enough to cover the costs of living and working in San Francisco, including food, rent, child care, transportation, health care and taxes. A United Way study found that a family of two adults with a preschool child must make an hourly wage of $16.37 per adult in order to be self-sufficient. San Francisco's current minimum wage and living wage fall well below that.

As a result, I put forth a budgetary proposal that would appropriate $4,629,087 for increasing the living wage from $10.50 an hour to $11.04 an hour. This is just the tip of the iceberg for helping families, but it is still important to ensure that the city's living wage is increased and adjusted for the rising cost of living. The living wage requires that employers pay wages above federal or state minimum wage levels. Workers employed by both for-profit and non-profit businesses that contract or lease with San Francisco must pay the living wage. It is the City's policy to not contract with businesses that pay poverty level wages, especially when for-profit businesses can offset the costs.

The $4.6 million appropriation is to help workers in a non-profit setting, including home care workers, shelter workers and others who provide needed city services at a fraction of the cost were the services provided by civil servants. This appropriation helps non-profit businesses cover the costs associated with the wage increase. Raising the living wage not only helps workers and their families, but it also helps promote responsible economic development.

Some employers have experienced reduced employee turnover rates and decreased recruitment and training costs. At San Francisco International Airport, security screeners who had a turnover rate of 94.7 percent before the living wage, had an 18.7 percent turnover rate after the living wage went into effect. Allocating money for an increased living wage is critical.

Workers who benefit from the living wage are from poor and low-income families. These families are the backbone of the City, providing important and critical services.

For more information on the budget process, check the supervisors' budget Web site at www.sfgov.org/site/bdsupvrs_index.asp?id=30446.

Jake McGoldrick is a San Francisco supervisor representing District 1.