TACOMA, Wash. — Tacoma's mayor wants to put a proposal for a $12 minimum hourly wage on the fall ballot to compete with a citizen's initiative seeking a $15 wage.
The News Tribune newspaper reports (http://is.gd/3dmr4c ) Mayor Marilyn Strickland's proposal will be discussed Tuesday by the Tacoma City Council.
She is asking for a gradual increase to $12 an hour by 2018.
The citizen initiative wants to see the city increase its minimum wage from $9.47 an hour to $15 almost immediately.
The citizen initiative, organized by a group called 15 Now Tacoma, qualified last month for the November ballot.
City officials say state law would require the two initiatives to appear on the ballot as a two-part question for voters.
First, they would be asked if either proposal should be approved.
Then they would be asked to choose a winner.