By Tod Palmer Feb 10, 2020
Jackson County is adopting the city’s “living wage” standard as part of a series of changes recommended by an independent Job Classification and Compensation Study.
The city of Kansas City, Missouri, passed an ordinance in October 2017 recommending living wage increases and promising to raise the minimum wage for municipal workers to $15 per hour by 2022.
Based on the study author Evergreen’s recommendations, Jackson County will follow suit — implementing a $12.50 minimum wage this year, which increases to $13.75 in 2021 and $15 in 2022.
But the bigger news perhaps is that nearly 900 county employees are in line for a raise during the next three years under a restructuring of the county’s compensation schedule that will cost more than $8.77 million over the next three years.
The Jackson County Legislature “authorized the implementation” of study recommendations Monday, according to a release from County Executive Frank White Jr.’s office.
White trumpeted the news in a statement Monday evening:
“After being elected to the County Legislature, I quickly learned that the County was simply not taking care of its Associates in the manner they deserved. As County Executive, I have seen each of our departments struggling to fill vacancies in essential roles simply because we refused to acknowledge that we were not compensating our staff appropriately for the work they were doing. I would like to thank the members of my staff who worked diligently on this report, Evergreen Solutions LLC for their expertise and assistance, and most importantly, members of the County Legislature for their support.”
Source: Jackson county government implements pay increase new minimum wage