Several part time positions within the city of Wadena will see a pay increase starting this month.
The Wadena City Council voted to increase the wage based on recommendations by City Administrator Brad Swenson and other department heads.
Some of the increases have to do with the new minimum wage requirement laws and some of them are adjustments to match up with full time employee positions.
Though the Minnesota minimum per hour rate isn't required to increase until Aug. 1, it was recommended to increase the wage Jan. 1.
The state's minimum wage is currently $9 per hour. The bump to $9.50 this year is the last of a three-part increase approved by the legislature. Incremental raises will be tied to inflation after the latest increase.
ADVERTISEMENT
Minimum wage positions in the city include parks, rinks and campground employees, lifeguards, golf course employees and liquor store cashiers.
Some of the other part time positions that have an increase in the per hour pay are in the public works department, facility maintenance, part time police secretary and officers, water department and firemen meetings and calls and standby pay. Those positions had a 3 percent pay increase.
Councilwoman Deb Wiese wondered if increasing the minimum wage Jan. 1 instead of Aug. 1 would have a significant impact.
Wiese was told that most of the positions that are receiving the minimum wage include the lifeguards and golf course employees, which won't start working until the weather is warmer. The impact wouldn't be significant.
The state minimum wage law has an exception for those working for a "small employers" - those which have an annual gross revenue of less than $500,000 - and employees under 18 years old.
Minnesota is the only state not on one of the coasts with a minimum wage exceeding $8.50 per hour. Washington state ($9.47 per hour) and Oregon ($9.25) have the highest rates, while California and Massachusetts will rise to $10 per hour at the start of 2016. Washington, D.C., has the highest floor in the country, at $10.50 per hour.
The minimum wage increase into law, with Gov. Mark Dayton saying the increase would put an estimated $472 million in additional wages in the pockets of Minnesota's lowest-earning workers.
