TUCSON, AZ — The passage of Proposition 206 in the city of Tucson will mean inconsistency between minimum wages in the city and in Pima County.
But it doesn't look like changes to the minimum wage in the county will happen anytime soon after the Pima County Board of Supervisors discussed the issue earlier this week.
Some supervisors agreed that the state minimum wage of $12.15 was too low, but most were not willing to take on the responsibility of increasing the county minimum wage through a simple board vote.
Adelita Grijalva, the board's vice chair, brought the issue up for a second time this year after Proposition 206 passed easily in the city of Tucson in the Nov. 2 election.
Proposition 206 will increase the city's minimum wage to $13 per hour in April, with incremental increases after that until the minimum wage reaches $15 per hour at the start of 2025.
This new city law means that neighbors could be paid differently for the same job if one happens to live within city limits and the other lives outside them. Businesses with operations both inside and outside Tucson may end up paying workers different wages for the same work.
"We really should come up with a regional approach on how to accomplish this for our county," Grijalva said, adding: "I think we really need to look to what we think is a livable wage in our community, and what we're seeing...
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