$15 minimum wage measure survives

After an election recount Monday, a proposition to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour in the suburb of SeaTac appears to have survived, King County election officials said.

The measure passed by 77 votes in last month’s election, with 6,003 votes counted.

Ballots for SeaTac Proposition 1 were recounted by hand Monday, and no changes were identified, election director Sherril Huff said in a statement Monday afternoon. The recount results were expected to be finalized Tuesday.

The recount was requested by Common Sense SeaTac, a business group that opposed the proposition.

The SeaTac minimum wage campaign drew $1.8 million in spending in the small city, with national labor groups supporting higher pay and national business groups opposing it.

The measure, which would require a $15 minimum wage and a handful of paid sick days for about 6,500 workers in and around Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, is set to take effect Jan. 1.

“Even though the citizens of SeaTac are narrowly divided on the wisdom of this idea, the businesses now have to prepare for living with this measure,” said Mike West, co-chair of Common Sense SeaTac.

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