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County hears repeated worker testimony on living wages; moves forward with compensation study inclusion on consent calendar
Summary
County employees and union members urged supervisors to include cost‑of‑living metrics in the county compensation study. The board discussed methodology improvements and approved the consent item to proceed, directing staff to use robust comparators including cost‑of‑living metrics referenced by supervisors.
The Board of Supervisors approved a consent‑calendar item to continue the county’s compensation review work with updated methodologies that incorporate multiple comparators — including cost‑of‑labor and cost‑of‑living measures — to inform future bargaining and salary adjustments.
Vice Chair Tara Lawson Reimer and other board members said the 2021 equity study provided a useful baseline but recommended the CAO augment the methodology with cost‑of‑living comparators (Lawson Reimer referenced MIT cost‑of‑living methodology as an example). The motion as presented on the consent calendar did not itself set salary levels; it requested updated study work to provide robust data for future negotiations.
Public comment included multiple county employees and union members. Workers described tight household budgets, high local rents and recruitment/retention problems: one county eligibility worker said nearly half of her new‑hire cohort had left since March because they could not afford to live here; another longtime county employee described a 20‑year mortgage advantage that no longer enabled living locally given current rents. Speakers representing SEIU Local 221 urged the board to adopt cost‑of‑living adjustments as part of labor negotiations.
Board action: The consent calendar, including the compensation‑study update (item 7), passed as part of the bundled items. A supervisor noted a possible comment on the item but did not pull it for separate discussion. The board did not set salary increases at this meeting; staff will proceed with the study adjustments and return results for negotiation use.
