In the wake of the Arizona Supreme Court’s rejection of a bid to block the state minimum wage increase, the Flagstaff City Council reconvened to slow down the city minimum wage’s impending leap above the state rates.
Flagstaff’s Proposition 414 was intended to raise the city minimum wage to $15 by the year 2021, starting with a $10.00 rate effective July 1, 2017. However, in order to address the city’s high cost of living, the proposed ordinance also included what has been referred to as the “escalator” provision, which specified that the city’s minimum wage always tower at least $2.00 above the state minimum. Voters approved the proposition during the November 8, 2016 general election.
In an unforeseen turn of events, Arizona’s Proposition 206 was also approved by voters on the November 8 ballot. This voter-led initiative increased the state’s minimum wage from $8.05 to $10.00 per hour starting January 1, 2017. As result, rather than having eight months to plan for the increase to a $10.00 minimum wage, Flagstaff employers had to implement it less than two months after the election. (Local employers must obey the state minimum wage law until the city ordinance goes into effect.)
The state wage increase also mandated that on July 1, 2017, Flagstaff’s minimum wage would leap to $12.00 per hour in order to meet the “escalator” requirement. Under the proposition’s original schedule, Flagstaff’s minimum wage would not have jumped to $12 per hour until 2019.
As of the Flagstaff City Council’s March 21 vote, however, the city is back on that schedule with an amended ordinance that pushes back the $2.00 escalator until 2021. On July 1, 2017, Flagstaff’s minimum wage will rise to $10.50, bringing it only 50 cents above the state minimum wage.
The new schedule for the city of Flagstaff is as follows:
- $10.50 an hour on and after July 1, 2017;
- $11.00 an hour on and after January 1, 2018;
- $12.00 an hour on and after January 1, 2019;
- $13.00 an hour on and after January 1, 2020;
- $15.00 an hour or $2 above the minimum wage as provided for under Section 23-363, Arizona Revised Statutes, whichever is greater, on and after January 1, 2021;
- $15.50 an hour or $2 above the state minimum wage as provided for under Section 23-363, Arizona Revised Statutes, whichever is greater, on and after January 1, 2022.
On January 1 of 2023 and succeeding years, the minimum wage will increase in accordance with the Consumer Price Index (CPI).
For Flagstaff citizens who are still dismayed with the increase in wages, a ballot initiative which proposes to amend several provisions of the ordinance is still scheduled to go before voters during the 2018 general election. Elevate Flagstaff’s proposed amendments would drop the city’s higher wage back to state levels until 2021, when the state wage’s scheduled increases come to an end. At that point, the Flagstaff minimum wage would be set at 50 cents above the state minimum wage. The Elevate Flagstaff initiative would also maintain the tipped minimum wage, which under the original ordinance will be gradually raised until it equals the general minimum wage.
In the meantime, we here at CPC will keep you updated on events as they occur, including news on the mandatory notice informing employees of the city’s minimum wage rate. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to keep up with the latest news!