LTC 131-2002 CITY OF MIAMI BEACH
Office of the City Manager
Letter to Commission No.
TO:
From:
Subject:
Mayor David Dermer and
Members of the City Commission
Jorge M. Gonzalez (,~ yv~
City Manager
COMPLIANCE WITH THE PREVAILING WAGE AND THE LIVING WAGE
ORDINANCES
Date: May 20, 2002
The following information is in response to a public comment made during the Stanley
Sutnick hour at the Apdl 10, 2002, Commission meeting, conceming what mechanisms are
in place for the City to monitor compliance with the Prevailing Wage and Living Wage
Ordinances.
The Prevailing Wage Ordinance 86-2507 was adopted in 1986 to provide employees of
construction contractors and subcontractors to be paid at prevailing rates for similar work
in the City. An amendment in 1994 increased the applicability of construction contracts
from $500,000 to contracts exceeding $1,000,000. This ordinance does not specifically
address enforcement for compliance. If the City receives any complaints, then the City
Manager's office would instruct City staff to investigate.
The Living Wage Ordinance 2001-3301 adopted in 2001 specifies that contractors 'and
subcontractors of the City pay their employees no less than the living wage described in
the ordinance. In addition, this covers all employees of the City. This ordinance provides
for specific monitoring procedures. Every six months, the Covered Employer must submit
a complete payroll for one payroll period to the Procurement Director. The City would
examine these payroll records as needed to ensure compliance. Furthermore, any
complaints regarding this ordinance are to be sent to the Procurement Director and the City
would investigate in a timely manner. This investigation would consist of examining
detailed payroll records and comparing rates of pay to the provisions specified in the
ordinance.
Finally, the City's routine intemal audits of service contracts encourages compliance with
the Living Wage Ordinance by examining detailed payroll records and testing the other
provisions of the ordinance. If an audit of a specific construction contract were requested,
compliance for provisions with the Prevailing Wage Ordinance would be included in the
examination.
If you have any questions or comments, please let me know.
JMG\I~JJS
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