Last November, Oberlin voters rejected Issue 55, the “living wage” city charter amendment. This Monday, City Council revisited the question of whether or not the city should require firms that do business with the city or receive special incentives to pay their employees a living wage.

Though the council had opposed Issue 55 before the election, according to council member Dan Gardner, it was not opposed to the general concept of a living wage in Oberlin. Monday’s meeting was a “working session” meant to explore the idea.

City Manager Robert DiSpirito submitted to the council a report on the living wage issue that he and his staff had prepared. The report cautioned that it could not verify claims made about the economic benefits of the living wage. DiSpirito’s report found “numerous areas of concern” and urged that the council perform “further in-depth study” before proceeding with legislation.

DiSpirito’s report states that there is a “[p]erception that such a law is anything but ‘Business Friendly,’” and that it could discourage companies from moving to Oberlin.

“In the business community, such a law is viewed as a disincentive to recruiting new industry and business,” read the report.

DiSpirito told the council that property taxes, real estate and utility prices already made attracting businesses to Oberlin an “uphill fight.”

According to the report, a living wage law could damage Oberlin’s fiscal health: contractors could pass the cost of paying employees on to the city and bidding on government contracts could be less competitive.

Dispirito pointed out additional potential ills. A living wage law could be met with legal challenges, it could require increased spending to monitor compliance and “[a living wage] would benefit a smattering of persons who are employed outside contractors and live elsewhere.”

“The city is in its fourth year of budget deficit, with more likely [to] come,” said the report. “This is simply not the time to risk increasing operating costs, and losing industrial and business competitiveness.”

DiSpirito recommended Oberlin work in conjunction with other cities to lobby the state and federal governments for a higher minimum wage.

Economic consultant Greg Sherman, who has advised Erie County and Sandusky on living wages, supported the analysis of the City Manager’s report. He said the results of survey of business owners for these municipalities were similar to what DiSpirito had found and compared instituting a living wage law to “unilateral disarmament.”

Jack Filak, representative of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees public employee union on the Lakewood Fair Employment Wage Board, spoke to the council about his city’s living wage law. He dismissed concerns about the cost of enforcing the law.

Filak said a living wage is “not burdensome or expensive” for Lakewood. He said the living wage is “not a huge benefit,” but “we have not found that it has hurt us.”

The living wage law had helped Lakewood’s temporary employees and improved the quality of life of the city’s temporary workers, said Filak.

Council Member Anthony Mealy expressed his frustration with the lack of a concrete proposal for the Council to consider. Other council members stated their interest in the living wage and continued discussion.

Charles Peterson said he was willing to “contribute all of [his] time” to a serious effort on the living wage issue. Gardner said that he considered the issue to be important, but he also said that he was not interested in a “symbolic measure.”

Local businessmen Charles Horton and Rob Lane shared their views with the city council. Horton asked about the extent of a living wage law.

“If it affected all my contracts, I’d leave town,” he said.

Lane said that had a living wage law existed at the time, it would have prevented him from bringing his AgriNoMix company to Oberlin.

Community member J.J. Shawn sarcastically suggested rolling back the city zoning laws to attract more businesses and complained that the City Manager’s report was “slanted” and “stacked with anti-living wage articles.”

“There was a time when Oberlin was a leader in working for social justice and I hope that time hasn’t passed,” concluded Shawn.