Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett on Thursday will sign the bill to raise the minimum wage in the county to $11.50 an hour over the next four years.
The measure, done in conjunction with the Councils in Prince George’s County and D.C., has been hailed as a historic move for economic equality and derided as risky for small business and politically motivated.
Councilmember Marc Elrich, the man who first proposed the bill, and others have said the four-step raise (the $7.25 per hour wage will go to $8.40 an hour in October 2014) isn’t enough to address the need for a real living wage in the county.
Businesses in Bethesda were concerned about “indexing,” or tying the wage to the consumer price index, which the bill did.
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