Trenton Times

Township holds off on local minimum wage

Council wants to study proposed ordinance

Thursday, August 17, 2006
BY NICOLE CASTELLI
Special to the Times

LAWRENCE -- About a dozen residents who turned out to support a minimum wage ordinance were frustrated when the township council postponed debate on the ordinance until its next regular meeting.

The council said Tuesday it needed more time to investigate the legality of the proposed ordinance before voting to put it on the ballot this fall. The proposed ordinance would require the bigger employers in the township to take better care of their employees with higher wage and benefits packages.

Township attorney Kevin Nerwinski said he will file a declaratory judgment in Superior Court to get a ruling on whether a municipality can create a minimum wage.

He said he "will try to get this in front of a judge as quickly as possible," but is not sure he can get a ruling on it in time for it to be debated at the next meeting on Sept. 5, and then certified for the ballot by the Sept. 8 deadline.

Falk Engel, attorney for the wage petitioners, who drafted the ordinance, said he was "disappointed" in the decision to table the ordinance and that he and other members of the committee were denied their chance to speak on it.

Aimed at both a proposed Wal-Mart and a planned expansion of Quaker Bridge Mall, the ordinance suggested by the petitioners would require employers in retail establishments of more than 100,000 square feet of indoor space and with corporate revenues of $1 billion or more to pay their employees not less than $11.08 an hour and to provide benefits equivalent to $3.50 an hour.

A Wal-Mart measuring 143,233 square feet is planned for a 23.5-acre lot on Spruce Street.

Engel added that there are several municipalities across the country that have already established a similar law.

Engel said he will litigate if necessary to get the ordinance on the ballot.