Glendale Mayor Jerry Weiers says he strongly opposes Proposition 499, the ballot measure that would force the C\city of Glendale to establish and staff an entire new government department but with no identifiable way to pay for it, forcing the mayor and city leaders to choose between cuts to city services or new taxes.
“Proposition 499 puts essential services like parks, police, fire and Glendale taxpayers at risk,” Weiers said. “Prop. 499 is not our idea and I urge you to vote no.”
Proposition 499 was designed by Worker Power PAC, an out-of-state special interest group affiliated with labor union UniteHere Local 11.
The measure calls for the creation of a new Department of Labor Standards that would be staffed by a full-time director and so-called “wage investigators.” The measure fails to identify how to pay for the new bureaucracy. The department and its staff would:
- Receive complaints by aggrieved individuals and interested parties.
- Initiate investigations of employers.
- Initiate enforcement actions.
- Conduct periodic studies of low-wage workers in the city for the purpose of targeted enforcement activities.
- Educate employers and employees regarding the rules and regulations contained in the initiative.
- Calculate the annual minimum wage for hotel and event center workers based on an increase of the greater of 3% or the CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers.
“Proposition 499 is the quintessential unfunded mandate,” Save Glendale Jobs Chair Kim Grace Sabow said. “If the measure passes, Glendale leaders will be left with only bad options: budget cuts or tax hikes. Glendale’s public safety, economy, and quality of life are all at risk because of Proposition 499. The proponents of this dangerous budget-buster don’t care about Glendale; they only want to advance their narrow political agenda.”
