Full-time employees and contractors for the city of Alton could start receiving a $15 minimum wage within a few years after the city commissioners pledged to work toward a wage hike.
During a meeting on Tuesday, the Alton city commissioners approved a resolution implementing an annual earnings increase for their full-time employees and contractors, raising it $15 per hour by 2025.
The move came after Ground Game Texas, a nonprofit that works to advance progressive initiatives in cities throughout the state, submitted a petition signed by Alton voters that pushed for a $15 minimum wage for employees and contractors.
Ground Game gathered and submitted the signatures in May in collaboration with LUPE Votes, the political arm of La Union Del Pueblo Entero.
The petition aimed to require the city to implement a living wage policy that would “establish a wage floor of $15.00 per hour City employees and persons paid under City contracts,” according to the language of the proposed policy.
The proposal called for the policy to become effective on Oct. 1, 2023 and incorporated into the city’s budget for the 2023-24 fiscal year and thereafter.
But the wage increase wasn’t feasible under their budget constraints, at least not quickly as the petition required, according to City Manager Jeff Underwood, who presented the petition to the commissioners during a June 14 meeting.
At the time, the city commissioners decided to not take action on the proposed ordinance but instead continued discussions with the two groups and created a committee to try to find common ground.
The committee then came up with the resolution that was approved by the commissioners on Tuesday.
“Essentially, what we’re doing is we’re recognizing the efforts that have been made so far, realize that we’re not where we want to be and we want to keep working in that regard,” Underwood said.
He reiterated the $15 minimum wage wouldn’t be implemented for another three years, said he believed it was do-able, and assured the changes would be implemented within the parameters of their budget.
“That’s exactly what this resolution says — we’re going to make every effort, our best effort, to make it work within the budget that we have, realizing that our employees deserve the very best that we can give them within that budget,” Underwood said.
With the city’s pledge to work towards the “livable wage,” Ground Game withdrew their petition.
The day after the city commissioners’ meeting, Ground Game issued a news release celebrating the passage of the resolution.
“Across the state, Ground Game Texas organizers are demonstrating the power of grassroots organizing to affect progressive change and reinvigorate the electorate,” Julie Oliver, executive director of Ground Game Texas, stated in the news release. “Thanks to the tireless work of our organizers, city employees and contractors in Alton will now see a boost in their wages, all without needing to approve an initiative on the ballot.”
Over the last several months, Ground Game and LUPE Votes have worked to enact similar initiatives throughout cities in the Rio Grande Valley.
In April, the organizations submitted a livable wage initiative to the city of Edinburg but the city rejected their petition for allegedly failing to meet requirements set in the city charter.
But Ground Game, claiming their petition complied with all local and state requirements, is alleging Edinburg violated their First Amendment rights by rejecting their petition and thus filed a lawsuit against the city in June.
An initial conference in the case is scheduled for Sept. 9 in federal court.
