Report: Optimal Minimum Wage For Flagstaff Is $13/Hour

Next year when Flagstaff’s minimum wage hits $15-dollars an hour, it will be two dollars too high, according to a controversial report the city paid for and was then canceled by the author. The “Arizona Daily Sun” says preliminary findings from the report, conducted by the Rounds Consulting Group, says the current optimal wage in Flagstaff is $13-dollars an hour. The paper also says that Flagstaff would have to implement an aggressive economic development plan to offset the rise to $15-dollars next year and $15.50 an hour in 2021. Rounds told the “Daily Sun” increasing the minimum wage wasn’t an error in public policy, but in the level of implementation. The minimum wage law was approved by voters in 2016. The Rounds Consulting Group came under fire by some residents and some council members last month after the group was linked to the conservative group “The Goldwater Institute” in Phoenix.