Richmond, CA Living Wage
Type: Ordinance
Status: Adopted
Source File: http://www.ci.richmond.ca.us/DocumentView.asp?DID=1371
Findings:
The City Council of the City of Richmond finds as follows:
(a) The City of Richmond awards many contracts to private firms to provide services to the public and to City Government; and
(b) The City of Richmond provides financial assistance and funding to others for the purpose of economic development or job growth; and
(c) The city of Richmond has a limited amount of taxpayer resources to expend; and
(d) Even in promising economic times, far too many people working in Richmond and their families live below or near the poverty line; and
(e) The use of taxpayer dollars to promote sustenance and creation of living wage jobs will increase consumer income, decrease levels of poverty, invigorate neighborhood businesses and reduce the need for taxpayer-funded social programs in other areas; and
(f) When inadequate compensation is paid to service employees within the City, it fails to provide service employees with resources sufficient to afford life. It is critical that when City funds are used to contract for services, such contracts demonstrate an effort to promote an employment environment that enhances the general quality of life within the community and maximizes the productive effect of the City’s limited resources; and
(g) Financial assistance recipients of the City are engaged in hospitality or some other line of business that is an integral part of the City of Richmond economy and such entities often pay wages at or slightly above the minimum required by federal and state minimum wage laws. The City as a provider of subsidies to these entities has the same interest in requiring the payment of a higher minimum level of compensation to employees of financial assistance recipients as it does of service contractors; and
(h) The City’s use of contractors or subsidies to businesses, which do not provide health insurance to their employees, often results in imposing the costs of their medical care on the county, state and federal governments. The City has an interest in avoiding such impacts, which the City finds can only be done if the employer provides health insurance in a reasonable form. The city finds that an employer contribution for health benefits of at least $1.50 per hour on average is necessary to provide employee health care sufficient to avoid imposing the public costs described above. The City also has an interest in ensuring that persons delivering City services are healthy, and that a lack of health care can affect employee performance and absenteeism. The City finds that employees are far likelier to be healthy if their employer provides reasonable health insurance to them and their dependents. In addition, one of the City’s reasons for providing financial assistance is to promote the public health, an interest served by having employers receiving such assistance spend a reasonable portion of this money for health purposes; and
(i) The payment of a higher minimum level of compensation as required by the Ordinance codified This chapter benefits these interests.