Prevailing wages for contracts reviewed by El Paso County
El Paso County is taking a closer look at prevailing wages, which could potentially increase what it costs to get things like construction bids done.
“The county initiated years ago – or took on the role of creating a wage survey so that anyone we contract with has to – those contractors have to meet the criteria that we established though a process on what wages will be for jobs on those capital projects,” said County Judge Veronica Escobar (D).
The county is now updating that prevailing wage study for the first time in years after a committee review. That study is also used by the city of El Paso and could soon be adopted by University Medical center and other groups to determine what wages for things like construction contracts and more should be.
“By setting the wage rates after following a process,” Escobar said, “what the committee is doing is essentially saying ‘Here’s what the market looks like, here’s where we all agree.’ And it’s trades, it’s unions, and it’s the construction companies, everybody in one room, here’s where we agree where the salaries should be.”
And while some like Escobar support the study based on the idea of making sure El Paso workers are being paid fairly and setting the example, others like Precinct 4 Commissioner Andrew Haggerty argue this tactic ends up costing the taxpayer more.
“My only issue is that some of these are going up over a hundred percent,” Haggerty said, referring to some of the increases of particular positions within the study. “And that’s something that the taxpayer is going to have to realize when they’re doing jobs, when we’re having jobs done, the taxpayer is the one that is going to have to pay these additional rates. And that’s something that needs to be remembered. That means that every bid is going to be more because they’re having to pay more. And that’s going to affect a lot of things and a lot of people.”
Commissioners did vote unanimously to approve the new rates, except those that were still below $10 an hour and that saw a significant decrease since the last study, pending further committee review.
