Yonkers Mayor Phil Amicone has vetoed the living wage law passed by the City Council in October.
The law required the city, its contractors and subcontractors and businesses receiving financial assistance from the city and their tenants to have paid employees a wage of $11.85 per hour, which would rise to $12.20 in 2008. Employers also were to provide at least $1.50 in health or other employee benefits. If no benefits were offered, that $1.50 would be added to the hourly wage. Employers also would have been required to provide 22 days of paid sick and annual leave.
Amicone cited procedural flaws with the legislation and his concerns that it could place businesses in Yonkers at a competitive economic disadvantage in region.
Amicone said an analysis revealed that implementation of the law could have cost the city a minimum of $3.5 million in hard and soft costs through higher wages, more expensive vendor contracts and a bureaucratic enforcement of the law.
The City Council majority had argued that the law would only cost the city government $700,000 annually.
Amicone in February vetoed a living wage bill that set a $10 hourly wage in the city and applied to employers receiving at least $25,000 in city contracts or assistance.
“Living wage is a laudable concept and could potentially be employed successfully in Yonkers, but adequate steps were not taken to address the cost impact this law would have on our taxpayers or to address the potential negative effects it could have on Yonkers businesses,” Amicone said. “While we share the common goal of improving the quality of life for working people in our city, we must ensure that our efforts are guided by a measured approach that will preserve our city’s fiscal solvency. Because this law fails to do that, I cannot support it at this time.”
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