Mike Carberry
Johnson County supervisors plan to move ahead with plans to require a higher minimum wage in the Iowa City area. The state minimum wage of $7.25 an hour was set in 2007.
The supervisors plan to propose raising the minimum wage in Johnson County in increments, so by 2017 it would be $10.10 an hour. Mike Carberry, a member of the Johnson County Board of Supervisors, says it’s about creating a “living wage.”
“Johnson County has the highest cost of living in the state,” Carberry says.
And Carberry says 18 percent of the those who live in Johnson County live below the poverty line.
“No one can survive in $7.25,” Carberry says.
The board will vote on the proposal at meetings during the month of August. State officials have said it is unconstitutional for a county to set its own minimum wage that’s different from the state minimum wage and Carberry says it’s a “worthy” and “moral” fight to take to the courts.