AMHERST — In compliance with the state’s minimum wage law, part-time workers for the Town of Amherst will be paid at least $12 per hour beginning Jan. 1.
The Select Board this week voted 4-0 to approve a recommendation from the Personnel Board to adjust the salary schedule for town employees who don’t work full time, part of an ongoing strategy to keep Amherst in line with the private sector as Massachusetts moves to a $15 per hour minimum wage in 2023.
While municipalities are exempt from the mandate, Personnel Board Chairman Tony Butterfield wrote in a memo to the Select Board that it is important for Amherst to have a minimum wage consistent with state law.
“This is in keeping with the policy of having the town of Amherst be an employer of choice in Western Massachusetts,” Butterfield wrote.
Butterfield, who was joined at the meeting by Human Resources Director Deborah Radway, said that the adjustments will cost the town about $26,000. Of this amount, $11,000 comes from changing the July 1, 2017 salary schedule, when the minimum wage went from $10 to $11 an hour by applying a 2 percent cost of living increase to all steps, and $15,000 comes from getting each employee up to the $12 minimum wage.
Town Manager Paul Bockelman said most of the employees affected are in the Leisure Services and Supplemental Education department, which hires seasonal workers such as camp counselors and lifeguards, with others working at the Jones Library and town elections. Bockelman said the money needed will be addressed through the budget process.
In 2014, the Select Board voted to increase the minimum wage for three consecutive years. While the Personnel Board is aware the state minimum wage will go up by .75 cents per hour each Jan. 1, no decisions have been made on adjustment beyond 2019.
This comes from the concept that the Select Board is being careful not to make any decisions that impede the Town Council by setting a multi-year plan.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.
