The Tompkins County Workers’ Center announced that the City of Ithaca Common Council approved Mayor Svante Myrick’s 2013 Budget Wednesday. The Budget allocates the necessary funds, approximately $45,000 for the second half of the coming Fiscal Year, for the City to become a Certified Living Wage Employer in July of 2013.

"This was an extremely difficult budget year that was full of difficult decisions. But even while cutting back on our spending, I felt it was necessary to invest in our lowest paid employees," says Myrick.  "I know what it's like for a family to struggle to make ends meet while working 40 or more hours per week.  To me, paying a Living Wage is a moral imperative”.

The vast majority of the City’s employees were already making a Living Wage with healthy benefits. The additional funds cover those workers who are temporary and seasonal, but whom work beyond three months.

Adding the City of Ithaca, an employer of approximately 450 people, to our long list of Living Wage Employers (including Tompkins County and the Town of Ithaca, as governmental employers), the Worker's Center will have 86 Certified Living Wage Employers, representing over 2,900 workers who are making a Living Wage.

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