By Niki Cervantes
Staff Writer

June 12, 2015 -- The Santa Monica City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to study raising the minimum wage for all workers in the bayside city, following in the footsteps of Los Angeles’ controversial decision to up the minimum wage to $15 by 2020.

Mayor Kevin McKeown said the council plans to decide on a minimum wage hike in September, putting it on a timeline similar to Los Angeles.

“Santa Monica already has established $15.37 as the minimum wage for City employees and contractors, as well as in recent Development Agreements for hotels,” McKeown told the Lookout after the vote.

“Part of our task in crafting a local ordinance, to join the regional move toward higher wages for all employees, will be determining whether that is the right target for all businesses, and what our timeline should be," the Mayor said.

He added that the Council is “on the same page.”

Raising the minimum wage in Santa Monica is likely to have a widespread impact. Tourism alone is responsible for some 13,700 jobs in the city, according to the Santa Monica Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Official also noted that Rick Cole, who will become Santa Monica’s new city manager on June 29, worked closely on the minimum wage issue with the administration of Mayor Gil Garcetti as a former deputy mayor.

City Councilmember Sue Himmelrich said she decided to ask for the study after reading a Los Angeles Times editorial that warned the city could become “an island” by raising the minimum wage to $15 by 2020.

There has been considerable concern in Los Angeles that businesses will skirt the hike by moving to neighboring cities that haven’t increased minimum pay, she said.

“Los Angeles should not be an island,” Himmelrich said. “I’ve long believed that the $15.37 minimum wage is something that should be happening everywhere and in every business.”

The hourly rate more than doubles the current federal rate of $7.25 per hour. Seattle and San Francisco previously passed measures to hike wages to $15-an-hour over the next several years. 

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is also studying a measure to raise minimum pay for the region’s unincorporated areas. West Hollywood also is having the discussion.

Santa Monica officials did not say how long it would take to finish the study. It is the second request that a study be conducted. Councilmembers Gleam Davis, Pam O’Connor and Terry O’Day brought up the issue months ago.

Davis said she was concerned about losing workers seeking higher wages in Los Angeles and that Santa Monica needed to follow suit if it wanted to remain competitive.

“It makes sense for us to go forward,” she said.

Other concerns were raised by the Council. Mayor Kevin McKeown said that businesses in cities with the higher minimum wage are instituting a separate service charge that patrons think is meant for workers, much like a tip. The charge, he said, is actually used by employers to offset the higher wages.

McKeown said he wants to ensure that such a practice is not allowed under any minimum-wage ordinance the Council might pass.