In the future, Orange County may require certain contractors to pay their employees a “living wage.”

Employers in North Carolina have to pay workers at least $7.25 per hour, the federal minimum wage. The minimum wage for Orange County government employees is $12.76.

“From my perspective it’s better to pay a wage people can live on rather than end up paying it through the back door, through social services,” said Earl McKee, chair of the Orange County Board of Commissioners, in an interview.

The county contracts out construction projects, solid waste collection and internet services, among other things.

In 2013 the North Carolina General Assembly limited the authority of counties and cities to regulate a minimum wage for contractors. A county can’t write minimum wage requirements into contracts for which it solicits bids.

The county could set the minimum wage for certain types of contracts: construction contracts less than $30,000 and service contracts in any amount so long as the county did not choose to solicit bids.

At Tuesday night’s board meeting, county commissioners and staff wrestled with questions about how to require contractors to pay a higher minimum wage. One question is how create an enforceable living wage policy.

“You can require auditing of a company’s records,” said County Attorney John Roberts at the board meeting. “Somebody’s got to audit those records though. That’s staff time.”

A few jurisdictions in North Carolina, including Asheville, require certain contractors to pay a specified minimum wage. These may serve as models for Orange County.

“Some of these places with ordinances actually have an appeal provision,” said Roberts. “They’ve established this right for people . . . they can appeal to the county manager and say, ‘Company X did not pay me my full salary as required by your ordinance.’”

County officials agreed to keep working through details to enact a living wage policy for contractors.

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