Workers looking forward to higher minimum wage pay will continue to wait.

The Madison City Council decided to delay a vote on the minimum wage ordinance in light of Gov. Jim Doyle’s decision last Tuesday to veto a bill proposing to prevent local governments, like the Madison City Council, from setting a higher minimum wage than the statewide limit.

The proposed city ordinance would raise the minimum wage to $7.75 per hour by the year 2008.

Opponents of the proposal fear the wage hike will result in layoffs of those workers, such as teenagers, who rely on jobs that pay minimum wage.

“I think $7.75 is too much,” University of Wisconsin sophomore Melissa Trinley said. “It could lead to layoffs, making it even harder to find a job.”

However, supporters of the hike contend it would only bring benefits to the city’s workers.

“I believe a higher minimum wage will be good for Madison’s economy,” Mayor Dave Cieslewicz said in a statement. “It will result in longer employee retention and higher morale, which will increase productivity.”

The City Council will use the excess time to fine tune the ordinance and get in touch with business owners in the city.

At last Tuesday’s City Committee meeting, a group of small-business owners asked the committee members to delay their decision until they had time to express their concerns about the new wage.

Currently, the minimum wage in Madison is $5.15 an hour and $2.33 an hour for tipped employees.

The ordinance’s most recent draft gives small businesses until 2008 before they must pay workers $7.75 an hour and tipped employees $3.88 an hour. This revision in the proposal gives even more time to small businesses than in previous drafts.

By January 2005, small-business owners will have to pay employees $5.70 an hour and tipped employees $2.66 an hour. Larger business owners would have to pay $6.50 an hour and $3.88 an hour for tipped employees.

Larger companies will have to begin paying employees the new minimum wage of $7.75 in January 2007, while smaller businesses ? those with payrolls of less than 31,200 work hours, excluding the owner ? will not have to begin the new minimum wage until 2008.

The council will likely vote on the minimum wage ordinance at the March 30 City Council meeting.