Durham workers rally for better pay, with city’s minimum wage rising to $19.58 an hour
Monday night in City Hall was calmer than expected.
With the final budget hearing on the agenda, no other lengthy items were scheduled. Last year’s budget meetings were bitterly divisive.
But when the meeting wrapped by 8:41 p.m., daylight still caught up in the inky clouds above downtown, city leaders could only come to one conclusion — most people really like the budget.
“I’m shook. I’m like, is this real?” Mayor Leonardo Williams said as he adjourned, grinning and clapping.
Residents thanked the city manager for spending $28.5 million on raises, and putting money into making streets safer and keeping buses fare-free. The minimum livable wage paid to city workers would be raised to $19.58 per hour.
“We are hopeful the increase to our pay slows attrition and helps us capture top talent in our recruiting efforts moving forward,” firefighter Meredith Carter said.
But residents are still pushing for changes in some areas. Here’s where.
Sanitation workers rally
Several sanitation and Public Works employees rallied outside City Hall for reclassifying more workers into higher pay grades.
“We’re still in the fight,” sanitation worker Chris Benjamin said.
“The majority of the money continues to go to police and the management, not the city’s lowest-wage workers and hardest workers,” Public Works employee Robert Wilkerson added.
Resident Virginia Wertman said between rent, child care and food, it wasn’t enough.
“$19 an hour is not going to keep you housed in Durham,” Wertman said, advocating for a minimum of $27 an hour.
“Solid waste workers (play) an incredibly precious, public-health role,” she continued. “They work in physically strenuous conditions; they operate heavy machinery. Everything they do contributes to the well-being and safety and health of our city.”
Guaranteed income push
Others wanted action on guaranteed income, an initiative the city launched in 2022.
The pilot distributed $600 monthly to 109 formerly incarcerated people who were living in poverty and may have otherwise turned back to criminal activity to survive. On average, the women were making just $8,000 annually and the men $18,000.
Only 1.8% of the participants returned to jail, a far cry from the state’s recidivism rate of 40% (federal statistics) to 49% (state statistics).
“When individuals have access to the resources they need, they make different choices, which makes communities safer,” said Syretta Hill, executive director of Step Up Durham, which ran the pilot.
“I’m working two jobs, and it’s getting hard,” said Christopher Powell, who previously served prison time.
The city intended to start the next iteration — which may serve different people or be administered in house — last year, earmarking $1 million to do so. Mayor Pro Tem Mark-Anthony Middleton said in an interview they are still awaiting some data from the Centers for Guaranteed Income.
“I’m glad to see all of this energy and folks organizing around it,” Middleton said, adding he hopes to have a plan in place this fall.
Durham For All is campaigning for more funding for guaranteed income, delivering 75 signed postcards to the City Council.
The tax increase
The spending City Manager Wanda Page proposed totals $667.8 million, up 9.5% over last year.
- That will require raising the city tax rate 3.85 cents, to 59.62 cents per $100 of assessed property value.
- The county manager, meanwhile, has proposed a 3.25 cent-tax-rate increase, though the school board is pushing for more.
- On a $254,000 house, the median in the city limits: The proposed city increase adds $98 and the proposed county increase adds $83 a year to the annual tax bill, which would total $3,507. Check the impact on your property online.
At least one resident says the tax increase will push him out of Durham.
“$5,873.57 is my total assessed property tax in 2023 for a 1,000-square-foot home and two vehicles, a cost burden amounting to three of my paychecks, a month and a half of work,” said police officer John Wagstaff. “It would be irresponsible of me to start a family in a city where the basics are not covered.”
The council will vote on the budget June 17.
This story was originally published June 4, 2024 at 1:00 PM.
