Park board raises wages for lowest-paid employees

The next­ highest pay grade will make at least $11.60 an hour, a 13.2 percent increase.

The change means raises for eight current employees and will also apply to future hires in those positions, officials said.

There was no change to the amount the board pays seasonal employees such as summer lifeguards, who earn between $8.25 and $11.25 per hour.

Park Board Executive Director Kelly de Schaun said the raise would cost the board an extra $17,440 in its annual budget.

“We need to start putting the emphasis on these employees that they deserve,” Trustee Craig Brown said. Brown is also a city councilman.

At the same meeting, the board voted to increase the pay range for five salaried employees, because of new federal laws requiring employers to pay overtime to people who earn less than $47,476 a year. The raises for those employees cost another $14,618.

The decision was lauded by local activists — organized together as the Galveston Living Wage Group — who have lobbied the park board and other public entities to increase how much they pay their lowest­ earning workers.

“There’s a basic wage that people need to survive on and the federal minimum wage is just not enough,” said Steve McIntyre, of Gulf Coast Interfaith.

The park board was paying its employees more than the federal minimum wage of $7.25. The wage group says the living wage in Galveston is almost $15 an hour. Living wage is the amount a person needs to earn to meet basic needs.

Despite the park board’s raises, low­level employees at the park board are still paid less than other public agencies. The city of Galveston’s lowest paid full­time employees start at $10.71 per hour, according to city spokeswoman Kala McCain.