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Following a lively discussion at their quarterly meeting September 21, the Tompkins County Democratic Committee voted to support a resolution "For a Tompkins County Minimum Wage That Is a Living Wage."

The resolution was drafted by Town of Ithaca Supervisor Herb Engman and introduced by Mayor Svante Myrick. It calls on the Tompkins County Legislature to pass a local minimum wage law phasing in the Tompkins County Living Wage (currently $14.34/hour) as the minimum wage, and indexing it to the Tompkins County median wage. Because local legislatures lack the authority to implement such a wage, the resolution also asks the County to make a home rule request and calls on the New York State Legislature to pass it.

Opposition came from members worried about the impact of higher wages on youth and small farms, but those concerns were determined to be specifics that new legislation would need to address. The main concern of the body was the disparity between wages and cost of living, with current full-time minimum-wage earners making $18,200, significantly below the county living wage of $29,827. The resolution passed easily.

The committee rose to honor its Outstanding Democrat, Martha Ferger of Dryden, who has been an active, contributing member of the committee since the 1970s and a supporter of peace and social justice causes since her arrival here in 1955.

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