Cape Girardeau County commissioners push for repeal of state prevailing wage law

Cape Girardeau County commissioners voiced support Thursday for repealing the state’s prevailing-wage law.

The three commissioners approved a resolution urging state senators to pass legislation that would do away with the law. The Missouri House already has passed a bill that would repeal the law.

The issue is before the Missouri Senate, where Sen. Wayne Wallingford, R-Cape Girardeau, has said he wants to fix rather than repeal the law. But the county commissioners said the current law adds to the cost of tax-funded, public-works projects for the state and local governments.

Repeal of the law would save the county money, Presiding Commissioner Clint Tracy said.

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

Tracy said the law forces local governments, including counties and school districts, to pay “a premium on labor.”

Repeal of the law would reduce the cost of constructing everything from roads to schools, he said.

Tracy said eliminating the prevailing wage would not lower the quality of construction, as labor unions and other opponents of a repeal have argued.

Local governments would choose the “lowest and best bid,” Tracy said.

“There is no correlation between the prevailing wage and the quality of work,” he said.

But a coalition of more than 1,000 Missouri-based construction contractors in 14 trade associations opposes repeal legislation.

The coalition said in a news release repealing the law would force companies to hire “cheap, unqualified workers,” which would lead to the destruction of local businesses and an increase in “shoddy work.”

Wallingford has said the problem with the current law centers on the Missouri Department of Labor’s annual survey of wage rates, which is used to calculate the rates by county for each construction trade.

The wage rates are flawed because many independent contractors don’t fill out the form, Wallingford said last month. But Tracy said private businesses don’t want to reveal what they pay their employees and should not have to do so. In addition, the paperwork involved in reporting of prevailing wages to the state puts a burden on employers, he said.

“It is a nightmare,” he added.

Repealing the prevailing wage would be a win for taxpayers, Tracy said.

“If folks had to pay the prevailing wage in the private sector, they would not be very happy,” he said.

First District Associate Commissioner Paul Koeper said county finances already are hampered by declining state reimbursements for elections, prisoner per diem and assessment services.

“We are getting cut all the time,” he said.

The prevailing-wage law adds to county expenses, Koeper said.

According to the commission’s resolution, the state’s prevailing-wage law creates “an artificially inflated labor rate” for public construction projects and causes “the unnecessary expenditures of untold millions of dollars annually in Missouri that could be better utilized to improve infrastructure and serve taxpayers.”

Tracy said the cost of projects should be determined by “what the market will bear.”

After the meeting, Tracy suggested lawmakers could seek a “compromise” that would repeal the prevailing-wage law but allow local governments to adopt prevailing-wage rules or include such requirements in bid specifications on a case-by-case basis.

“This would allow for local control of local tax dollars and transparency,” he said.

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