The countdown is on for the city’s new minimum wage initiative to take effect.

The first phase of the ordinance that will increase minimum wage will go into effect Jan. 1. Under the ordinance, employers will be required to pay workers at least $5.70 an hour, up from the state minimum wage of $5.15. Tipped employees will also see an increase in their hourly wage from $2.33 to $2.57 an hour.

The ordinance calls for annual minimum wage increases through January 2008.

Ald. Austin King, District 8, is one of several area political figures that have worked to increase wages.

According to King, the first increase will not have a large effect on students, but will have a greater impact on immigrant populations and workers without a high school education.

“The minimum wage is ridiculously outdated,” King said, adding the minimum wage has remained at $5.15 for the past seven years. “It would be well over $8.00 an hour had it kept up with inflation.”

The city’s Equal Opportunity Commission has been designated to implement the new ordinance.

Ariel Ford, interim director of the EOC, said about 90 percent of area businesses already pay their employees the same, if not a greater wage, than the changes require.

Although a large number of businesses already meet the wage requirements, many restaurant and shop owners initially expressed concern about the initiative.

Such concerns, however, are beginning to fade, Eric Kestin, an investigator and conciliator for the EOC, said.

“We haven’t had a lot of negative feedback, beyond what was happening when it was first passed,” Kestin said. “I think a lot of the concern came from not having all of the information out there.”

Kestin said the group will provide wage training and outreach to workers and businesses in the Madison area. The EOC has scheduled several training sessions over the next few weeks that are free and open to the public.

Mark Paradise, owner of Sunroom Café and Gallery, said the ordinance will not significantly affect his restaurant business or other area business.

“Everyone is in the same situation. I think most places will be paying or do pay what is being proposed as a raise,” Paradise said.

UW sophomore Alec Leavitt, who recently began a bartending job downtown, does not foresee the increased wages as having a great impact.

“You make good tips anyways, so the wage doesn’t matter,” Leavitt said.

According to Paradise, the most common negative response he has heard from other restaurant owners and managers focuses on the increased wages for wait staff. Many feel wait staff raises would be more appropriate if they were given to people working behind the scenes, such as cooks and dish washers, he said.

“Personally I think that most business owners want to pay their employees as much as they possibly can, because you work with these people everyday, you want to pay them as much as you can while being fiscally responsible,” Paradise said.