Prevailing wage just an option under bill

Those who think workers are paid too much on public construction projects could soon ignite a Statehouse debate over Ohio’s requirement on unionscale wages.

Sen. Matt Huffman, R-Lima, has introduced a bill that would allow counties, cities, townships and universities to pay workers less than the staterequired prevailing wage on taxpayer-funded projects.

Some Republicans have long said that governments could save money on construction if officials allow market forces to set worker pay rather than Senator cites a possibly illegal example /

a mandated prevailing wage. Unlike past efforts that sought to eliminate the prevailing wage law, Senate Bill 72 would make it optional for local officials.

“If we made people pay prevailing wage on the construction of their homes, there would probably be a riot,” Huffman said.

Local governments, Huffman said, should be allowed to pay workers a lower rate if they can.

“I’m not pretending this is a fix for other local government issues,” he said. “But this begins to allow them to use the funds they save on these projects for other things.”

Prevailing wages vary depending on the county. In Franklin County, the total wage and benefits package is $44.76 per hour for a bricklayer, $49.23 for an electrical worker and $36.96 for a painter. In Licking County, for example, those rates are $41.40, $45.82 and $36.96.

Tracy Hatmaker, administrator for Prairie Township in western Franklin County, said engineers estimated that the prevailing wage cost the township $375,000 on a pair of recent road projects that totaled $3.7 million.

“We have a lot of infrastructure that needs to be replaced,” Hatmaker said, adding that having to pay prevailing wages puts “quite a strain on our budget.”

Matt Szollosi, executive director of ACT Ohio, the Affiliated Construction Trades, said plenty of peer-reviewed studies show that eliminating the prevailing wage does not lower construction costs.

However, he said, it would reduce wages for construction workers by an estimated 16 percent. He questions such a move, especially on the heels of an election where a number of bluecollar workers expressed their anger by voting for Donald Trump.

“Sen. Huffman’s proposal would add to the frustration blue-collar workers, union and non-union, are feeling across the state,” Szollosi said. “This type of bill will be viewed by construction workers as a slap in the face.”

About 30 states have a prevailing wage law, one of three big union-related debates to regularly surface in Ohio’s Republican-controlled Statehouse. The others are right-to-work and project labor agreements.

Allen County Commissioner Jay Begg said his county expects to do $40 million to $50 million worth of renovations to county buildings over five years. He estimates that opting out of prevailing wage could save taxpayers about $4 million.

Begg said the market rate for skilled trades in his county, based on research from his economic development group, is around $18 per hour, but few prevailing wages, he said, are less than $25.

Gov. John Kasich was an opponent of the prevailing wage law early in his first term, but he hasn’t spoken much about it in recent years. A spokeswoman offered no additional insight Tuesday.

Micah Derry, state director of Americans for Prosperity-Ohio, said his group will use engagement by “ordinary Ohioans” to urge lawmakers to support the bill.

“Although this bill does not fully repeal the prevailing wage, it will allow political subdivisions to determine what is best for their budgets and communities,” Derry said. “This is the kind of sensible economic reform that Ohio needs right now.”

Public construction projects are competitively bid, Szollosi said, and if wages are not established, “my concern is this proposal would open the door to out-of-state contractors to invade our communities and undercut the area standards for wages and benefits.”

Huffman noted that Ohio schools have been built without a prevailing wage requirement since 2000.

As Kasich and others stress the need for workforce development in the state, Szollosi highlighted that in 2016, building trades spent more than $60 million in apprenticeship training. He says the bill could greatly damage that work.

“This is one of the workforce development success stories that Ohio has,” he said. “This is not the industry to attack.”