Fulton commissioners to consider $31,000 ‘living wage’ for employees

Clarkston has a $15 minimum wage for city employees.

A so-called living wage of $31,000 a year, which would boost salaries for more than 500 Fulton County employees, will be considered by commissioners Wednesday.

The new salary floor, if approved, would be implemented over five years beginning in 2017 for fulltime employees. It would affect the wages of 519 full-time employees who now make less than $31,000 a year, and potentially boost the wages of others who supervise them.

In addition to couriers, cooks and custodians, the raise would affect tax and tag clerks, some maintenance works, lab assistants, court clerks and administrative aides, among others. Their supervisors would also get raises if they do not make 15 percent more than what their workers are paid.

The increase in pay would be better for recruitment and morale, as well as for county workers who are trying to afford to live and raise families in the county, Fulton personnel director Kenneth Hermon said.

“A happier workforce typically provides better service,” he said.

The county’s current base rate is $23,500 annually. About 10 percent of county workers are currently paid less $31,000.

The employee union is supportive of the increase, and the time period over which it would be implemented, executive director Greg Fann said. The county recently completed a pay and classification study, and officials believe implementing raises over a five-year period will prevent a flattening of the pay scale with people making more than $31,000.

Additionally, there was some concern that raising wages too quickly would keep workers from being eligible for programs like low-income housing or food stamps, without providing them with salaries that would make up for the lost benefits. A slow phase-in, Fann said, would give workers the chance to adjust to the change in their social program eligibility.

“We don’t want to hurt people,” Fann said. “We want to help people adjust.”

The increases in salary will be welcome, said Kari Lattimore, a county employee who makes about $31,000 a year working with the Women, Infants and Children nutrition program and who attended meetings to advocate for the raise. Lattimore said she thinks wages should be even higher than what commissioners are offering.

Many of the people in her office are single mothers, Lattimore said. And while she is not on any government programs, dozens of lower-paid county workers depend on outside help to make ends meet — even though they are working full-time, government jobs.

Lattimore said her job is rewarding, but that those in her office should make more money.

“The work we do is draining,” she said. “We work extremely hard.”

In past conversations among the board, some commissioners have lamented that county employees could not afford to have only one job. They asked Hermon to investigate raising wages.

The plan calls for a higher floor each year until 2021. Employees whose salaries are below that floor will have their salaries raised until they are above it. The increases are expected to cost an average of $3.3 million a year.

The fight for higher wages has swept across the country. Earlier this month, Atlanta agreed to study raising salaries to $15 an hour over a three-year period beginning in 2018. Clarkston has a $15 minimum wage for city employees.

The Fulton proposal would increase salaries to $14.90 an hour by 2021.