"The Albemarle County Board of Supervisors and the county School Board agreed Wednesday to set a living wage for county employees for next fiscal year that would follow the same scale used by the University of Virginia.

UVa in December will increase its living wage, the benchmark that allows full-time employees to meet their basic needs, to $9.75 per hour. In March, a group of UVa students protested against the university’s pay rate, demanding that it raise the living wage to $10.72 for all UVa employees. The university did increase the rate to $9.37, 49 cents an hour more than the previous pay rate.

Albemarle’s living wage figure will be higher than $9.75 since it has to adjust it for the 2007-08 fiscal year. The county’s current living wage is $8.84, while Charlottesville recently raised its rate to $9.72.

Lorna Gerome, the school division’s human resources manager for benefits and compensation, presented three options to the board members. The first one is based on the Economic Policy Institute, a non-partisan think tank, which estimated that the living wage for a family of two adults and two children in the Charlottesville Metropolitan region is $10.72. The federal government’s estimate of a living wage for a family of four, $9.62, was the second option.

Gerome gave UVa’s $9.75 as the third option and said the living wage would increase the county employee salary structure and affect its bottom levels the most.

“I’m convinced that we should be paying the living wage,” Board of Supervisors member David L. Slutzky said. “I’m embarrassed that we don’t. What is the living wage is obviously something that I’m not an expert on. That’s why we ask staff to help inform us.”

The two boards debated about whether the county’s amount should reflect living wages in surrounding communities or if the county should investigate more independently using factors such as cost of living and average income within the county.

The discussion centered on the fundamental question of how a living wage is defined.

Board of Supervisors member Sally H. Thomas said the board was having trouble reaching a consensus because the question is philosophical.

“We’re trying to find a living wage that is competitive within the community and also hits some kind of moral barometer that we can feel good about,” she said, adding that finding an agreeable balance is tricky.

Speaking against a purely market-based approach, School Board member Brian Wheeler said: “I would challenge the statement that we are doing fine by our market because I think people are being left behind.”

Wheeler and Slutzky volunteered to form a committee that will talk with UVa and city officials about how they can work toward a common definition of the living wage.

Having a concrete method to gauge the living wage is important so that the same formula can be applied year after year, School Board member Steve Koleszar said.

Friedman said a starting point is what is needed and UVa’s living wage scale is where the county will begin." (Matt Deegan, The Daily Progress, October 12, 2006)

Contact Matt Deegan at (434) 978-7277 or mdeegan@dailyprogress.com.