San Antonio, deep in debt, digs hole deeper with $13-an-hour minimum wage plan

San Antonio, deep in debt, digs hole deeper with $13-an-hour minimum wage plan

Already mired in $17 billion of debt, the city of San Antonio wants to raise the minimum wage for city workers to $13 an hour.

“Rather than entertaining failed ideas that will push up the price of labor and increase the cost of government, city leaders ought to be looking for ways to lower operating expenses and cut spending,” said James Quintero, director of the Center for Local Governance at the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a free-market research center.

San Antonio’s current minimum wage for municipal employees is $11.47 an hour. The rate for the private sector in Texas is $7.25 an hour.

“The [municipal] rate is based on base pay at the federal Department of Health and Human Services – far removed from reality here,” said Vance Ginn, a staff economist at TPPF’s Center for Fiscal Policy.

City Manager Sheryl Sculley will formally propose the 13.3% pay increase Thursday.

“Will residents see a 13.3% increase in the value of their city service? Probably not,” Ginn mused.

The city’s finance department predicts the wage hike will boost payroll costs by $2.1 million in the first fiscal year, and $2.8 million in succeeding years.

One of the big drivers of City Hall’s debt is unfunded pension liability. The carrying cost of that debt will get heavier as municipal pay rises.

“San Antonio is not exempt from the laws of economics,” Ginn noted, adding:

If … leaders raise the minimum wage, then more resources will be taken from productive private-sector activities and diverted into non-productive public-sector uses, resulting in fewer jobs created and a less productive economy.

But $13 isn’t enough for the city’s unions. Elsa Caballero, president of the Service Employees International Union, wants a $15 minimum wage.

Mayor Ivy Taylor did not respond to a request for comment by deadline.

Read more by Kenric Ward at Watchdog.com.

Kenric Ward

Kenric Ward

Kenric Ward is a national correspondent and writes for the Texas Bureau of Watchdog.org. Formerly a reporter and editor at two Pulitzer Prize-winning newspapers, Kenric has won dozens of state and national news awards for investigative articles. His most recent book is “Saints in Babylon: Mormons and Las Vegas.”

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