State’s new minimum wage leads to raise for Fountain Valley school crossing guards

Fountain Valley’s city-funded school crossing guards are getting a raise in response to California’s minimum wage increase.

The City Council on Tuesday night approved a $130,997 contract for the coming school year with its longtime crossing guard partner, All City Management Services. The amount is an increase of $11,880, or about 10%, over last year’s contract.

It follows an increase in the state minimum wage, which climbed to $10.50 per hour in January and will reach $11 per hour in January 2018. The crossing guards’ hourly rate is increasing from $15.04 to $16.54.

Fountain Valley has worked with Santa Fe Springs-based All City Management Services for 17 years.

Water restrictions eased

The council agreed to drop the city’s drought-driven water restrictions a level.

The key change in downgrading from “Level 1 Water Supply Watch Alert” to the city’s standard permanent water conservation level is that residents will be able to water outdoors on any day of the week.

The permanent standard, in place since 2009, includes anti-waste measures such as restricted watering times and durations and a ban on hosing paved surfaces.

hillary.davis@latimes.com

Twitter: @Daily_PilotHD