Snuck in as a late-day addition to the Board of Commissioners’ new items Wednesday was an ordinance hiking Cook County’s minimum wage. The ordinance (16-5768) calls for a hike to $13 per hour by July 1, 2019. It is co-sponsored by Finance Chairman John Daley and Comm. Larry Suffredin.  

“I realized that the city of Chicago has already raised it to $10.50. So if you are working on the Evanston side of Howard Street, you’re making $9.50. You get a dollar more on the other side. It seemed to me, crazy,” Comm. Suffredin told The Daily Line. “The business community has not challenged the City of Chicago’s ordinance, we might as well have the same minimum wage for everybody.”