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Leon County Commissioners Increase Minimum Wage For County Employees

Leon County Courthouse
WFSU

Leon County Commissioners have agreed to raise the minimum wage for county employees to $14 an hour. Employees making under that amount can expect to see the change starting October.

Leon County Commissioner Bill Proctor tried to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour but other board members weren’t on board. Commissioner Nick Maddox was one of them.

“I want to be ahead of the curve also when it comes to reaching that 2026 $15 per hour that the state has mandated. So if the budget works out that we can do that next year I’m fully for it, let’s move," Maddox said. "But let’s slow step it this year because we are coming out of a pandemic. We don’t know what that budget is going to look like next year."

Tallahassee City Commissioners are expected to discuss raising city employees' minimum wage to $15 an hour at their next meeting in July. Commissioner Jack Porter backs the idea.

"The thought is 1 that it’s something we're going to be working towards anyways," Porter said. "Second, even $15 minimum wage is not a living wage and we need to be paying people a living wage. And anything less than $15 is just unacceptable."

Florida voters last year approved an amendment to raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2026. It’s currently at under $9 and will go to $10 in October.

Blaise Gainey is a State Government Reporter for WFSU News. Blaise hails from Windermere, Florida. He graduated from The School of Journalism at the Florida A&M University. He formerly worked for The Florida Channel, WTXL-TV, and before graduating interned with WFSU News. He is excited to return to the newsroom. In his spare time he enjoys watching sports, Netflix, outdoor activities and anything involving his daughter.