City of Waco Discussing Raising City Hourly Wage to $15 an Hour

The City of Waco will discuss raising its city minimum wage to $15 an hour as a way to stay competitive in the local area.

The talk of raising the minimum wage on a national level spiked once again during the Presidential election and once again after Joe Biden was elected. It even looked like it had a shot before eventually being left out of the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill.

President Biden did however succeed in getting the minimum wage up to $10.95 an hour and the  federal minimum hourly wage up to $15 an hour which will start on January 30, 2022.

Some major companies like Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, and Target have already begun paying their employees a $15 an hour minimum wage.

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According to a report from KWTX, Kelly Palmer, District Four City Representative, said that city council members have talked about an hourly increase for city workers several times. “Right now, we’re looking at trying to get that minimum city hourly rate to a competitive rate in the marketplace.”

Waco city council has yet to add the proposal to its annual budget, but will hold their next budget and audit meeting on July 13. The 2022 budget will need to be passed by the end of July.

Palmer says, “It’s going to be a challenge. As you know, it affects the entire payroll as we look at it. So we’re working through those details now.”

The good news here, whether Waco decides to pass this or not, is that at least they are discussing it. A $15 an hour minimum wage does has its pros and cons, but it is a livable wage.

Did you know that in Texas, the minimum wage is $7.25 an hour? Now, I don't know of any company that actually pays that low of an hourly wage, but imagine if the only job you could find was one that payed a low wage like that. It's simply unlivable.

$15 an hour would give you a yearly income of $31,200 before taxes. I know that's not great, but compare it to the $20,800 yearly you make at $10 an hour or the $15,080 yearly income at $7.25 an hour and it's a much better income.

Take a look at the pros and conts list of $15 an hour from Britannica ProCon.org from May of 2019. It's an interesting, nonpartisan, read for sure.

Let's hope that Waco can find a way to pass this in their budget meetings and maybe we'll even see the surrounding cities like Temple and Killeen follow suit.