PHOENIX (AP) - The Phoenix City Council has voted to increase the city employee minimum wage to $15 per hour. That's $4 more than the current state minimum wage.
The increase was approved by the council unanimously Wednesday and will take effect on May 1.
City officials say new pay rate will ensure all current employees below the newly established wage will be brought up to the new rate and all new hires will start at the $15 per hour minimum wage.
They say about 150 full-time city employees currently make less than $15 per hour.
That includes security guards, library clerks, police records clerks, youth counselors, police aides, solid-waste workers and groundskeepers.
Increasing their pay to the new minimum will cost Phoenix about $525,000 annually.