Reader poll: Fair minimum wage for Sonoma?

Readers weigh in on what's a fair minimum wage in Sonoma.|

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The state minimum wage is set to increase from its current $10.50 per hour to $15 by 2022. The Sonoma City Council, however, is considering whether to accelerate that pace, bringing the local minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2020 – with an interim step of $12.75 in 2019. Local business owners, meanwhile, are getting skittish, wondering how much that will affect their bottom lines.

In our most recent online readers poll, we tried to gauge where the community views a fair lowest-threshold wage by offering four simple choices: $10.50, $12.75, $15 or higher than $15.

Of the 120 respondents, 59 percent support either $15 or higher.

Meanwhile, keeping the wage at its current $10.50 an hour level was the preferred choice of 26 percent of respondents, few of whom, we’ll guess, are currently holding down jobs at that rate in Sonoma.

Interestingly, the mid-level option of $12.75 had the least support, with only 15 percent – which is probably indicative of the timeless divide between labor and management.

As John Locke once observed, “All wealth is the product of labor.”

In Sonoma, just whose wealth and whose labor it should be depends upon whom you ask.

Here a few of the more passionate responses:

Definitely $15, but not for tipped employees who derive a significant amount (more than 50 percent) of their income from tips and not wages. I propose $12.75 for those workers. I say this as a person who earned their living as a food server for 16 years. Most people who are ignoring this element have never owned a business, never employed anyone, or are retired and do not care if restaurants struggle post-decision.

I am a 17-year-old middle class resident in Sonoma. It’s hard to think about your future and where you’re going to move when you make $11.25 an hour.

Lots of talk and no action. It’s disgusting that decent folks who grew up in the Valley can’t afford to rent here, much less buy.

Minimum wage is not supposed to be enough to live on, it’s supposed to be a starting wage and people earn more through hard work and dedication. High schoolers working their first job don’t need $15 an hour.

People can’t hardly make ends meet right now unless they have a second or third job. Rents go up and so does food.

Skill should determine wage not government. Someone making minimum wage and has no drive and motivation shouldn’t get more money because the government says so.

The City Council should be more concerned about getting their own house in order. Unfortunately, we have people on the council who don’t understand what it takes to run a business except Mr. Cook. Many owners of businesses make less than the minimum wage after all their bills are paid. It seems ironic that the council wants to tell others how to run their business when they can’t even get financial information on how the city is spending its money.

The higher wages creep up, the more prices increase to pay for this amount. Employees get their wages, guaranteed by state enforcement but if the business has fewer customers and business is off, there is no protection for the boss. Government ought to stay out of the wage business and this goes for rents too.

Us locals who have jobs (not terrible ones at that) can’t afford to buy a home here! Raise the minimum wage and maybe we can stay in our town by eventually saving to buy!

When I was unskilled, I wasn’t worth the minimum wage. I then developed skills that made me worth higher pay. Someone doesn’t deserve a certain wage just because they’re human.

Will you also require a mandatory increase for everyone else to keep the same level of wage separation and help account for those who spent time and money on their education or trade? Otherwise, you are essentially giving them a pay cut?

You cannot live in Sonoma Valley on a $10.50 wage. Sonoma Valley people are partnered up just to be able to make rent, let alone trying to buy. Don’t and can’t fund 401k thus making the golden years not so golden.

You need to make at least $30 an hour to survive in this town -- and that’s “working class” wages.

$10.50 good place to start. Work hard and get a raise.

$15 is strategy that’s a do-able political lift now, in an arc that needs to move to an overall living wage adequate to meet COL in the Bay Area, minimum living wage now is $23, realistic living wage now is $28.

All proposals so far are unrealistically low for our Sonoma Valley. If employers cannot survive with paying a “livable” wage, they are existing on the backs of their employees.

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