Columbia Mayor Brian Treece said he supports an effort to increase Missouri’s minimum wage.
But, he said, he won’t be actively soliciting support for a November 2018 ballot initiative that would ask voters whether to increase the minimum wage. That’s not his role as mayor, Treece said.
“It’s just my personal opinion,” Treece said.
Supporters of a higher minimum wage, including St. Louis and Kansas City mayors Lyda Krewson and Sly James, respectively, on Tuesday announced they would seek 100,000 signatures to place a “Raise Up Missouri” initiative on the November 2018 ballot.
Their proposal calls for boosting Missouri’s minimum wage of $7.70 per hour to $8.60 in 2019 and to raise it by 85 cents per year thereafter, until it reaches $12 in 2023, according to The Associated Press.
Treece said he believes a minimum wage increase would be good for Columbia. Because things like health care, groceries and utilities keep getting more expensive, it’s important for wages to keep pace, he said.
“This is a modest increase that I think workers deserve,” Treece said.
Treece also said that he supports the minimum wage increase because communities like Columbia should not be “pre-empted by the state government.”
“Local elected officials have a responsibility to make these types of decisions,” Treece said.
The Missouri General Assembly in May passed a bill requiring the $7.70 minimum wage statewide, nullifying laws in St. Louis and Kansas City that set the minimum at $10. In Kansas City, voters on Aug. 8 approved the higher wage and a plan to make incremental increases until the minimum reached $15 by 2022.
Gov. Eric Greitens allowed the legislature’s bill to become state law without his signature.