Dane County officials came together on the steps of the City Council Building Thursday to announce proposed legislation that would raise the minimum wage.

The proposed legislation would raise the minimum wage for all county-funded employees to $15 per hour. This includes all county employees as well as employees of organizations that receive their funding from the county, Dane County Supervisor John Hendrick, District 6, said. The current Dane County ordinance sets the minimum wage for county-funded jobs at about $12 per hour.

Hendrick is the primary sponsor for the proposed legislation, but several other supervisors joined him Thursday in support of the legislation.

The county board has received requests from the public to raise the living wage to $15 per hour for about the last year, Hendrick said.

The Fight for $15 movement has gained national momentum over the last year, and community activists made a statement Thursday by coming together on a national scale and asking officials to raise the minimum wage to $15, Hendrick said.

This special day of action was the reason that the sponsors chose Thursday to announce the legislation, he said.

“This is going to make a difference in a lot of people’s lives,” Hendrick said.

Evette Gardner, a Family Dollar employee, has been an active participant in the Fight for $15 Madison chapter for about six months. She found out about the movement through a friend, and became enthusiastic about the cause after learning about the potential to help other middle class workers, she said.

Gardner emphasized that the movement is bigger than fast-food employees that have been highlighted by the media. There are people throughout the county working in a wide-variety of jobs that are continuing to struggle, she said.

“With a $15 minimum wage we would be able to take care of our families,” Gardner said. “We would be able to survive out here without having to worry about whether we are going to pay the bills or buy food.”

Throughout the committee process, Hendrick said he expects some of the other supervisors to immediately support the legislation, and others to have “questions and concerns that will have to be addressed.”

The legislation will be introduced to the County Board, Sept. 17, and will likely receive a final vote by the County Board in December or January, Hendrick said.

“We need to keep working on this and build on the support that we have,” Hendrick said.