3-Dec-14 – Brendan Reilly is not normally on the losing side of city council votes. On Tuesday, however, he was one of five aldermen who voted against an ordinance to raise the minimum wage for all Chicago workers to $13 per hour by 2019.

It passed 44-5 and on Wednesday, Reilly explained that while he was sympathetic to minimum wage earners, he was more sympathetic to owners of small businesses.

“Everybody on the city council agreed on one thing and that is the minimum wage had to be raised,” said Reilly (left). “And I believe that.” He says he is no stranger to minimum wage jobs, including once being a line cook in a restaurant. “I got to know a lot of folks who depend on the minimum wage to raise their families. And it wasn’t with one job, it was with two or three. And so I’m very sympathetic.”

In the end, though, he thought a $13 minimum wage was “too aggressive.”

“I’ve been hearing from lots and lots of small business owners around the city of Chicago and they made it very clear to me that they’re operating on thin margins as it is. For the entrepreneur, who sank their life savings into their business and have employees to care for, those are serious obligations they take care of first. And if that business isn’t profitable at the end of the year, that entrepreneur doesn’t get paid.”

Reilly says the better solution is for the state to raise the minimum wage “so you don’t pit municipality versus municipality and have different wage levels across the street.”

He says many business owners he heard from – representing hotels, restaurants, and retail merchants – wanted an increase in the minimum wage but “to a reasonable level.”

Reilly lowest paid alderman By declining most of his pay raises since taking office in 2007, Reilly has the distinction of now being the lowest paid of the 50 Chicago aldermen. He earns $105,939 per year. He earns slightly more than a legislative aide. He earns $9,057 less than the highest paid alderman, Leslie Hairston of the 5th Ward.

“When I took office I didn’t feel it to be responsible to be accepting automatic pay raises each year while the city’s budget was flagging – hundreds of millions of dollars in the red, a massive structural deficit – and at the time we were asking city employees to take furlough days and pay cuts. I don’t think an alderman deserves a raise while this fiscal [situation] continues.”

Looking forward to Fioretti no longer being an alderman

Reilly spoke with Loop North News after speaking at the annual meeting of the River North Residents Association. At that meeting, he encouraged residents in the 2nd Ward, which now includes neighborhoods north of the Loop, to carefully study the candidates to replace Bob Fioretti, who instead of running for re-election on February 24 is running for mayor.

“He’s supposedly has been representing that ward in the near north side for the last year,” Reilly told the crowd. “In reality, my office has been managing that ward for him while he pursues a bid for mayor.”

He called the six candidates for 2nd Ward alderman “all very impressive.”

“Whoever takes over that ward will end up being a partner with me, it is my hope, because we share some important boundaries and important neighborhoods.” He says he has not had a strong working partnership with Fioretti (right), particularly with management of development projects seeking city approval.