Cape council set to take stand on prevailing wage repeal effort

The Cape Girardeau City Council is set to vote today on a resolution in support of state legislative efforts to repeal Missouri's prevailing-wage law.

With approval of the resolution, the council would become the third local governmental body to back the repeal effort in the past 10 days.

Mayor Harry Rediger said he and other council members are pushing the resolution because the Legislature has not passed a repeal bill, and it is getting near to the end of the session.

"They just haven't got it done," Rediger said of lawmakers.

The Cape Girardeau County Commission and the Cape Girardeau School Board approved similar resolutions urging lawmakers to repeal the wage law.

Local government officials said the law adds to the cost of tax-funded, public works projects.

The law requires contractors to pay a state-determined minimum wage for each construction trade on public-works projects.

The Missouri Municipal League is among the groups pushing for repeal of the wage law, according to deputy city manager Molly Hood.

A coalition of more than 1,000 Missouri-based construction contractors in 14 trade associations have opposed the latest efforts to repeal the law, according to a statement from the group.

City manager Scott Meyer has recommended approval of the repeal resolution.

"The prevailing wage is the minimum-wage amount workers on Missouri public works construction projects must be paid," Meyer wrote in an agenda report to council members.

The Missouri Department of Labor calculates the prevailing-wage rates for each county based on surveys of wages paid on past construction jobs.

"Typically, not enough contractors supply wage rate information for particular counties," Meyer wrote.

As a result, wage rates often are determined by using the closest county with prevailing wage determinations, he said.

In many cases, the wage rates end up being based on wage determinations in the St. Louis and Kansas City areas, Meyer said.

"This greatly increases the cost of projects political subdivisions pay for work on roads, bridges and buildings," Meyer wrote in the agenda report.

But a University of Missouri-Kansas City study of construction projects in prevailing-wage and non-prevailing-wage states from 2003 to 2010 found projects in prevailing-wage states were delivered at lower cost because of a highly skilled worked force and operating efficiencies.

The Missouri House has voted to repeal the prevailing wage law, a legislative effort supported by Gov. Eric Greitens. The Senate has yet to act. The legislative session ends on May 12.

State Sen. Wayne Wallingford, R-Cape Girardeau, wants to fix rather than repeal the law.

The GOP senator has said the wage rates are flawed because many independent contractors don't fill out the wage survey, while "labor unions are good at filling out the forms."

Wallingford said last month he would like to see a mechanism developed to determine wage rates accurately.

He said eliminating the prevailing wage could open the door to low-wage workers who are less skilled.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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