Minimum Wage in Maryland Could Be Going Up Sooner Than Expected

OCEAN CITY, Md. - The General Assembly might be changing the minimum wage in Maryland to $15 two years faster than expected.

Originally Senate Bill 81 was supposed to raise the minimum wage from $13.25 to $15 by 2025 by raising the minimum wage by a dollar every year until it reached $15. The Fair Wage Act of 2023 will speed up that timeline by changing the minimum wage to $15 by October 2023. 

The speed up in minimum wages is cited to have been caused by the raise in the cost of living. Some restaurants, like Bull on the Beach, don't see the faster increase as much of an inconvenience.

"The fact that they're trying to push it forward faster, I don't think it's that big of a deal just because the way the market is right now," general manager Steven Weisenberg said. "I feel like $15 is the bare minimum to start at for employees."

Additionally, some others in the service industry like Christine Brous think the time to raise the minimum wage is now.

"I think it's definitely something they should speed up because with the cost of living, you can't rent down here in Ocean City and make $15 an hour," Brous said.  

Others like Sid Zweigbaum, owner of the Bayside Skillet, said he doesn't agree with the direction this new bill is going towards.

"I personally think the timeline they had it on was was more appropriate action than to just speed up," Zweigbaum said. "But to make a flatline where a 14-year-old and a 30-year-old and a 40-year-old are required to walk in the door and get the same, I just don't think makes sense because they don't have the same needs."

There wouldn't be another increase in minimum wage until July of 2025. That would be dependent on inflation.