Kane County Board GOP again fails to block prevailing wage law
An attempt to support Gov. Bruce Rauner's turnaround agenda in Kane County failed Tuesday in a vote that ultimately supported Illinois' prevailing wage law.
Drew Frasz tried to rally fellow board members to reject the annual prevailing wage ordinance the county must pass to comply with state law. Frasz, a nonunion contractor from Elburn, said the prevailing wage only makes government construction projects more expensive for taxpayers. He wants state lawmakers to repeal the prevailing wage and support Rauner.
“This law translates directly into higher taxes at a time when we are trying to retain our frozen levy,” Frasz said.
Frasz, who is also vice chairman of the county board, made a similar attempt to reject the prevailing wage law in a board vote about a year ago. Tuesday's vote received the same total of “no” votes as last year's attempt. Six of the board's 14 Republicans voted “no”: Frasz, Maggie Auger, Doug Scheflow, T.R. Smith, Susan Starrett and Barb Wojnicki.
The majority of the board, including all 10 Democrats, voted in favor of the prevailing wage law. As Kane County Democratic Party Chairman Mark Guethle watched from the audience, board member Brian Dahl spoke in support of the prevailing wage as key to keeping people out of poverty and in good-paying jobs.
Dahl, who is also a local union official, said repealing the prevailing wage would fuel an influx of out-of-state contractors and decimate more than 7,000 union construction firms owned by military veterans. A handful of Democrats followed Dahl's lead.
“I will, of course, support this because this is how we've built the middle class in this country,” said board member Deb Allan. “Most of us are somewhere in that middle.”
A vote against the prevailing wage would have been symbolic, barring a change in state law. There is no penalty for rejecting the prevailing wage. The McHenry County Board voted down its prevailing wage ordinance in 2014 and 2015. However, not paying workers on county projects the prevailing wage would be a Class A misdemeanor.
Congress adopted the federal version of the prevailing wage law, known as the Davis-Bacon Act, in 1931. Federal prevailing wages are set by the U.S. Department of Labor. Illinois has its own state prevailing wage law with a rate set by the Illinois Department of Labor on July 1 of every year.
There is widespread disagreement on the impact of prevailing wages on the cost of public construction projects. Attempts to scientifically measure the impact over the years have been hampered by the many aspects of construction projects that impact wage and cost difference, such as the quality of materials and the skill level of the workers.