December 27, 2005
by Dylan Skriloff
A Living Wage bill has passed the County Legislature despite a plea from County Executive C. Scott Vanderhoef to allow a fiscal review before a vote and a vigorous campaign from the RBA to create alternative legislation. Vanderhoef has vowed to veto the bill as currently drafted and submit a revised plan.
Lawmakers passed the bill ten votes to six at 1:30AM December 21, after five and a half hours of debate between living wage activists and representatives of the business community, including many members of the Rockland Business Association.
"This is partisan politics at its worst. Half of the legislators didn't even justify their votes for the bill, they just criticized the County Executive," RBA President/CEO Al Samuels said.
Samuels noted the proposed legislation would cost County taxpayers tens of millions of dollars and keep new businesses from coming to the county.
Living Wage activists portrayed the bill as a benign effort to elevate the wages of some of the county's lesser-paid citizens and make a moral statement against poverty.
"They aren't seeing the bigger picture," Samuels said. In his speech Samuels asked the legislators to look over the financial details of the bill before making any decision.
RBA Board member Burt Steinberg read a quote from Ronald Reagan during his speech, "government does not solve problems; government subsidizes problems." Raising wages can cause as many problems as it solves, he said, suggesting that instead the county and business community offer job training to help people move up the economic ladder.
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The business community was especially wary of the language in Section 5 of the bill, which states that any company receiving financial aid from the county is subject to a public audit which would leave financial records open to unions and competitors.
Deputy County Executive, Sue Sherwood, said the bill erroneously states it carries no financial or legislative impact on the county. In fact it will cost taxpayers unknown millions of dollars in increased wages and contract costs and also require new staff members for enforcement, she said.
Celia Juris, executive director of Home Aides of Rockland, said the bill would cause her company to go out of business within two years. "We are unable to afford the increases in the legislation," she said.
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