Veto stands on minimum wage hike

As hearings come to close, council to consider budget amendments next week

By Daniel Kittredge
Posted 4/28/16

Mayor Allan Fung’s veto of an ordinance amendment seeking to establish a minimum wage for part-time city workers has been upheld.

The City Council on Monday voted 5-3, along party lines, to …

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Veto stands on minimum wage hike

As hearings come to close, council to consider budget amendments next week

Posted

Mayor Allan Fung’s veto of an ordinance amendment seeking to establish a minimum wage for part-time city workers has been upheld.

The City Council on Monday voted 5-3, along party lines, to overturn the veto, falling one vote short of the needed two-thirds majority. The measure was initially approved on a 5-4 vote in March.

The ordinance amendment sought a minimum wage of $12 an hour as of July 1, 2016, with a second increase to $12.50 an hour effective July 1, 2017. High school students and seasonal employees would have been excluded from the raises.

The vast majority of workers who would have seen pay increases under the proposal are in the Cranston Public Library system. Ward 1 Councilman Steven Stycos, who sponsored the amendment, began discussion of the mayor’s veto by reading from a list of library employees, followed by the number of years they have worked and their hourly rate – typically $10.10 or a close figure.

“They get no benefits, they get no holidays, no insurance, no pension. They deserve a raise,” he said.

Stycos has said he plans to seek an amendment through the ongoing budget review process to provide funding for part-time employee pay increases.

Citywide Councilman Michael Farina on Monday indicated he has similar plans.

Farina – who voted against the minimum wage proposal in March, and switched his party affiliation from Democratic to Republican two days later – said he felt a “more fair approach would be to take funds during the budget cycle, allocate it to the libraries, and give these people who deserve a raise, a raise.”

“The city does not need to establish its own minimum wage,” he said. “Minimum wage is established by state and federal guidelines.”

Farina also said he hoped council members would “work bipartisanly” during the budget amendment process.

As has been the case during prior debate over the minimum wage proposal, however, Monday’s proceedings did at points take on a political tone. Stycos criticized Fung for his veto message, which characterized the proposal as “political posturing during this election season.”

“The comment in the veto message by the mayor that this was a political stunt … is rude, and I don’t think it’s helpful to be labeling a serious proposal a political stunt,” Stycos said. “I’m sure that was fun when people were writing the press release, but beyond that, I don’t think it’s helpful, and really the mayor might do better by communicating with the City Council rather than [issuing] press releases that impugn the intentions of the City Council.”

Ward 4 Councilman Mario Aceto said he hoped one of the council members who had opposed the minimum wage measure would “have a conscience” and support the veto override.

Stycos, Aceto, Council President John Lanni, Council Vice President Richard Santamaria, and Ward 3 Councilman Paul Archetto supported the veto override. Farina, Ward 5 Councilman Chris Paplauskas, and Ward 6 Councilman Michael Favicchio were opposed. Ward 2 Councilman Donald Botts, who voted against the amendment last month, was not present for Monday’s meeting.

The council’s Finance Committee this week wrapped up its hearings on the mayor’s $275 million budget plan for the coming fiscal year. A meeting for the introduction of proposed budget amendments is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 4, in Council Chambers at City Hall. Adoption of the budget is scheduled for Monday, May 9 at the same time and venue.

In other business on Monday, at the request of Lanni and by a unanimous vote of the council members present, Farina was removed as vice chairman of the council’s Safety Services and Licensing Committee.

Lanni said he took the step because of Farina’s partisan switch.

“I don’t do this lightly, Councilman Farina … You can’t be a leader in [a political] party and not serve in that party,” he said.

Farina said he would have stepped aside, if Lanni had requested, so that his colleagues would not have needed to vote.

“Had he asked, I would have gladly obliged,” he said.

The council on Monday was united in its support of three resolutions, each of which passed on an 8-0 vote.

The first called on the mayor and his administration to adopt and participate in the state’s new mattress recycling program, while the second urged the General Assembly to support the Green Economy Bond.

The third resolution asks state lawmakers to provide $352,000 in additional aid to Cranston Public Schools to support the expansion of the all-day kindergarten program across the district.

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