Bloomington Council OKs prevailing wage for city-backed projects

Workers on certain jobs in Bloomington will soon earn the area’s prevailing wage after action Monday by the Bloomington City Council.

The City Council unanimously passed an ordinance that will require contractors pay their workers a prevailing wage for projects that receive financial backing from the city, including assistance like tax increment financing, tax credits or contract payments.

Mayor Tim Busse said during the meeting that the city has always had conversations about protecting workers in Bloomington. He said the council discussed examining this policy in December once it realized how many projects in Bloomington were going on and how many projects were getting TIF.

Finance & Commerce previously reported on the prevailing wage ordinance when it went before the Bloomington Planning Commission.

“I don’t think there’s disagreement that if there is city financial support that’s part of a project, then workers on that project should be protected,” he said. “And if we don’t do that we’re going against our history here in Bloomington and we’re going against our future that we laid in our strategic planning process.”

Prevailing wage is required on projects that receive state or federal money, which in turn the city must ensure. Bloomington has around five projects a year that receive state or federal money, Compliance Manager Amir Malik said during the meeting. This ordinance, he said, would require prevailing wage on an additional 10 to 12 projects a year, which is about the number of projects that receive assistance from the city each year.

Last month, the Rochester City Council voted to end that city’s prevailing wage requirements for single-family projects, with hopes it would help meet its shortfall of for-sale homes.

The Associated Builders and Contractors of Minnesota and North Dakota spoke against the provision. Jon Boesche, the government affairs director for ABC, said that the imposition of the wage would increase costs on construction 10% to 15%, without increasing quality of construction.

Research presented to the city council suggested that end costs are affected little by prevailing wage requirements, because it decreases the number of project-site injuries that would occur on a project.

RELATED:

Bloomington considers prevailing wage for city-assisted projects

Rochester moves to end prevailing wage rules for single-family homes getting TIF

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