After setting the pace in raising the minimum wage of workers to $15 an hour, the Mountain View City Council is being asked by one of its members to freeze the rate so the city can better understand how the pay impacts local businesses.
Councilman John McAlister wants the council to hold the minimum pay at $15 through all of next year instead of allowing an approved inflation adjustment to kick in, hiking the pay to $15.65 an hour.
The Cities Association of Santa Clara County, which seeks a regional rather than piecemeal approach to wage increases, in August 2016 recommended cities increase the minimum wage to $15 by the start of 2019.
Sunnyvale, the only other city in the county with a $15 minimum wage, declined the same request in September and will increase its minimum wage to $15.65 on Jan. 1. Although the Mountain View City Council unanimously agreed in June to delay the inflation adjustment, the majority of members — Mayor Lenny Siegel, Vice Mayor Lisa Matichak, Councilwoman Margaret Abe-Koga and Councilman Ken Rosenberg — changed their minds at a Sept. 25 meeting after learning about Sunnyvale’s action and decided to let the hike to $15.65 proceed after all. McAlister didn’t attend that meeting.
If McAlister sways his colleagues to delay the inflation adjustment, Mountain View would align with other cities that are moving to $15 an hour in the new year, among them San Jose, Los Altos, Palo Alto, Cupertino and Santa Clara, all of which plan to begin adjusting wages based on inflation starting in 2020, according to the staff report. Milpitas, which also is moving to $15 an hour in the new year, intends to wait until July 2020 to begin adjusting for inflation.
The current minimum wage is $13.50 in San Jose, Palo Alto, Cupertino, Milipitas and Los Altos; and $13 in Santa Clara.
From July 2015 — when Mountain View adopted the goal of hitting $15 an hour by 2018 — to the present, the minimum wage has increased by 47 percent.