Marin County supervisors approved partial funding for a new three-year contract with In-Home Supportive Services workers this week that is projected to raise workers’ hourly wage from $18 to $21 by Jan. 1, 2027.

The contract, which also includes one-time incentive payments for some caregivers, will cost the county about $954,000 with about $622,000 of that being new ongoing annual expense.

Nevertheless, the contract, approved Tuesday, disappointed advocates who have been lobbying the supervisors for over a year to help fund a $26 hourly wage for IHSS workers.

“Thank you for the progress we’ve made;” Tiffany Kimble, a Service Employees International Union representative, told supervisors, “however, what we’ve been awarded thus far is not a livable wage.”

Advocates for a higher wage say there is currently a shortage of IHSS workers in Marin and higher pay is needed to attract additional caregivers. While IHSS workers in Marin are currently being paid an hourly wage of $18, IHSS workers in Contra Costa County are being paid $18.43 an hour and IHSS workers in Alameda County are being paid $19 an hour.

IHSS is a state program that pays for a certain amount of care hours for California residents who are aged, blind or disabled and at risk of nursing home placement. About 2,200 Marin residents qualify for the program and receive care in their homes.

Care recipients choose and pay their caregivers; many caregivers are family members. Most caregivers who work for IHSS recipients as a profession register with the Public Authority of Marin. SEIU Local 2015 represents about 2,000 IHSS workers in Marin. The union negotiates their wages with the Public Authority.

“The county plays a consultative role in that process,” Dan Eilerman, assistant county executive, told supervisors.

A combination of federal, state and county funding provides the money to pay IHSS workers. The federal government covers 50% of the cost. The state covers 32.5%, and counties cover 17.5%.

However, the state only contributes up to a maximum 10% increase in wages and benefits over any three-year period. If counties approve larger increases, they must absorb the entire nonfederal cost of the increases.

Under the new agreement, Marin County will increase the amount it is contributing to IHSS workers’ hourly wage from $2 to $3, effective Aug. 1. That will increase the workers’ hourly wage to $19. The contract calls for an additional 25 cents per hour contribution by the county on Feb. 1, 2025 and Feb. 1, 2026.

Marin’s contribution is added to whatever the state minimum wage is at the time. For example, Marin is currently contributing $2 and the state minimum wage is $16 resulting in an $18 hourly wage for IHSS workers.

California law requires that the state’s minimum wage go up annually by either 3.5% or the rate of inflation. As a result, without additional contributions by the county, the IHSS workers’ hourly wage is projected to increase to $21 by Jan. 1, 2027.

A third of the county’s new ongoing cost, some $230,000 per year, is a result of the county exceeding the state’s 10% over three years maximum with its second 25-cent contribution. Eilerman said the county would have had to take on several million dollars in ongoing annual expense in order to elevate the IHSS’s employee’s hourly rate to $26.

The new contract also allocates about $81,500 to provide incentive payments to IHSS caregivers who work through the registry. IHSS workers serving people in West Marin will be eligible for a $200 payment.

Advocates for higher wages, however, were dissatisfied.

“How are we going to entice people who can start work at In-N-Out Burger at $23 an hour when our wages in August are $4 less,” said Pat Langley of the Marin Organizing Committee.

Eli Gelardin, chief executive officer of the Marin Center for Independent Living, said, “We’re in a care crisis. We’ve seen the closure of our only adult day health facility over the last year. We’ve seen the strain and exhaustion that our caregivers, IHSS and private pay, have gone through over the last four and a half years, supporting our community when they needed it most and doing it at below-living-wage wages.”

Meredith Parnell, who oversees programs for the homeless at St. Vincent de Paul Society of Marin, said, “When you picture IHSS caregivers, especially the professional ones, remember that they are generally serving low-income older adult renters, folks who are at high risk of eviction if they can’t manage to maintain their housing.

“If you care about Marin seniors and you care about preventing homelessness,” Parnell said, “then you need to care about IHSS caregivers. These things are all connected. We don’t have enough IHSS caregivers to meet our current need.”