ACTION ALERT: FIGHTING FOR PROGRESS TOWARD LIVING WAGES IN THE CITY BUDGET
The Problem: The City of Asheville does not pay all of its staff a living wage and the proposed 2026-2027 budget takes another step away from bridging the pay gap for the lowest paid workers.
Costs for everything are rising including fuel, housing, food, and healthcare, making it even more challenging for local residents to make ends meet. At Just Economics, we believe it’s a problem when the people working to keep our City running can’t afford to live in the City they serve. While the City is dealing with a budget gap, Just Economics has offered a number of solutions to approach raises differently that do not add more to the budget, including a solution that the City has used in the past the over the last two budgets giving an across the board dollar amount raise instead of a raise based on percentages.
Background: The City of Asheville first passed a living wage policy for its employees in 2007, and Just Economics successfully advocated for many improvements to the policy over many years including applying the policy to part-time, temporary, and seasonal employees, adjusting the living wage rate annually, and addressing the hourly pay for firefighters.
Just Economics’ living wage rate is based on the cost of housing and as housing costs ballooned locally, the City of Asheville fell out of compliance with its own policy. In 2023, Just Economics added a Living Wage Pledged option to our Living Wage Certification program, inviting employers who are working toward providing a Living Wage to join our program in an paying the Living Wage Pledged amount and committing to raise wages 3% plus inflation until the current living wage is met (this standard is in line with our national partner Living Wage for US). As the City moved away from the formal living wage policy, living wages for City staff remained part of the budget discussions and the City maintained a wage floor of at least the standard set by the Living Wage Pledged Program.
Just Economics has offered suggestions to bring the lowest paid staff up to a living wage or at least up above the Living Wage Pledged rate and also mitigating the impacts on the budget. These solutions include capping the dollar amount for raises above $100,000 or giving raises based on an equal annual dollar amount instead of a percentage. In the last two budget cycles, the City of Asheville partially implemented the straight dollar amount increase for employees below the median salary, effectively bringing the lowest paid staff up to a higher wage than they would have received with a raise based on percentages. In 2026 the Just Economics’ Living Wage rate is $24.10/hr and the Living Wage Pledged employer standard is $20.00/hr. The proposed budget reverts back to cost of living raises given as an across the board percentage, leaving the lowest paid staff below even the rate required to meet the Living Wage Pledged standards.
The City of Asheville should be paying all of its employees a living wage and at the minimum, meeting the requirements of the Living Wage Pledged rate while working toward the full living wage rate.
Our Advocacy Request:
Ask the Asheville City Council and the Asheville City Manager to reconsider how wage raises will be administered and ensure that the lowest paid staff at the City of Asheville are moving toward a living wage not away from it.
How to take action:
- Attend the City’s budget hearing on Tuesday, May 26th at 5pm at City Hall and make a public comment.
- Email Asheville City Council asking them to continue to move toward living wages not away from them. You can email all city council members at: [email protected]
Sample email:
Asheville City Council,
As the cost of living continues to rise across the country and Asheville area residents are facing the accelerated increase in housing costs in recent years, it is not the time for the City of Asheville to back further away from living wages. We believe that the people who help make our city run should at least make enough to live in or near the City they serve. Just Economics has offered alternatives to bring the lowest paid City staff closer to a livable wage without increasing the budget any further. Please keep our City moving toward providing a living wage and adjust wage increases for City staff.
Thank you for your consideration,
(Your name)