By Mark Weyermuller -
Tuesday night, the Village of Wilmette voted 6-1 to "opt out" of a new mandatory minimum wage law of $13 per hour. The village board meeting lasted over four hours with a large amount of public comment. Roughly 87 towns and villages have voted to opt out of the county mandate. Most of these towns are considered "home rule" – a complicated legal term in which local governments can make their own laws.
Last week, Des Plaines voted to "opt out" in a similar meeting lasting over four hours. I attended this meeting and wrote this story.
I participated in the Wilmette meeting during two sections of the public comment. In the first section, I spoke of the need to freeze and cut property taxes. In addition, I asked if the village could "opt out" of the Cook County beverage tax. In my opinion, Wilmette could make millions being the only village without a beverage tax boasting grocery sales here. The Wilmette Corporate Council (village attorney) quickly said we could not opt out of that tax. While I'm not a lawyer, I don't see a difference between this and opting out of the minimum wage.
Over 30 people spoke on the issue of the mandatory minimum wage including Christopher Provenzano from Commissioner Sean Morrison's office. Morrison has been leading the charge to get villages to opt out.
Local resident and taxpayer advocate Jasmine Hauser also spoke in opposition to the mandate. She expressed concerns that it will hurt high school and college students the most. The village board was streamed live on Wilmette cable channel 6 and is available to view on their website: http://www.wilmette.com/government/watch-board-meetings/
Thursday, Evanston's city council decided to have a vote to opt out. Their meeting is Friday night.
