Gov. Jim Doyle now holds the fate of Madison and other Wisconsin municipalities' abilities to raise their minimum wages higher than that of the state.
The state Senate passed a bill on party line votes Tuesday that gives Doyle the sole power to adopt or veto the bill. He has until April 15 to take action.
\There's tremendous pressure on the governor on both sides,"" said Melanie Conklin, spokesperson for Mayor Dave Cieslewicz. ""The bill is clearly targeted at Madison, because Madison, with Ald. Austin King, District 8, Madison Fair Wage Campaign and [Cieslewicz] joined together to give its own municipal minimum wage because the cost of living here is very different from other Wisconsin cities.""
In a letter to Doyle, Cieslewicz wrote the average home in Milwaukee costs $85,000, while an average home in Madison costs more than $185,000. King, who has been campaigning for a higher minimum wage in City Council, said there is disparity among the cost of living throughout the state of Wisconsin. He said a resident in Bayfield, for instance, would have a much easier time making do with a $6.50 minimum wage than a Madison resident, because the cost of living is so much higher.
""If [Doyle] is intelligent, if he's a Democrat, he'll veto this bill,"" King said. ""The bill retroactively pre-empts any municipality from serving the individual constituents by raising the minimum wage.""
Cieslewicz wrote he believes a higher minimum wage is good for economic development in Madison because it would lead to greater employee retention, lower training costs, higher morale, greater productivity and lower social service spending, and it would give Madison a more competitive economic environment.
Conklin said this bill is an attack on the city. She added the attack is a result of Madison trying to be progressive and join San Francisco, Santa Fe and Santa Monica as the only cities in the United States that control their minimum wage.
""Madison has one of the lowest employment rates in the state and one of the highest costs of living,"" King said. ""You have people working here having a hard time surviving.""
Glenn Grothman, R-West Bend, wrote the bill.
""Glenn could not be less intelligent,"" King said of Grothman.
