ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, June 3, 1996 TAG: 9606030110
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
SOME 62-to 64-YEAR-OLDS who hold down part-time jobs may find a higher minimum wage could cause them to lose some of their Social Security benefits.
Hardy L. Williams puts about 160 miles on a New River Valley Senior Services van each day he drives it. He took the job, usually about 35 hours a week, at minimum wage mainly because he wanted something to do after his second retirement.
"I've gone up to 250 miles in a day," he said, when emergencies have come up and he has had to deviate from his regular transportation route.
The Louisiana native retired first from the U.S. Air Force in 1971, before moving to the New River Valley, where his wife was from. He worked in motel maintenance for eight years at the Blacksburg Marriott, 10 years at the Holiday Inn in Blacksburg, four years at the Days Inn in Christiansburg, and then at a different job for a year before retiring for a second time in 1994.
Now, the proposed increase in the minimum wage could force him to retire a third time.
He had telephoned a former employee of his who had moved to the Senior Services agency, intending to ask if the agency needed some volunteer drivers. The man told him that drivers were needed, but the agency could only pay minimum wage.
"When do I start?'' said Williams, who had not expected any pay at all. "That's two stones with one bird."
Williams has nothing against making more money, but not if it cuts into his Social Security benefits. Currently, those between ages 62 and 64 who draw Social Security are limited to making no more than $8,280 a year from other sources. Williams is 63.
"The problem that that would cause me - and I expect there are some others in the same boat - is that you would have to quit work or really reduce your hours," he said.
"It's a good job. I don't mind that driving. I enjoy it. ... I enjoy working with the people. But if they raise that minimum wage, I'm either going to have to slow down more, or quit."
He figures he would have to stop driving around October of each year or, more likely, cut down his 35-hour week to 20 or 25 hours.
So Williams is interested in what the candidates for Congress - in his case, the U.S. Senate and the 9th District seat in the House - think about raising the maximum amount that people younger than 65 can make and not lose Social Security benefits.
Congress has passed, and President Clinton has signed, legislation increasing the cap for Social Security recipients aged 65 to 69 to $12,500 - and it's scheduled to rise to $30,000 by 2002. It left the cap for those between 62 to 64 at $8,280.
The candidates seeking Williams' vote generally split along partisan lines: The Democratic candidates for the Senate - Mark Warner - and House - Rick Boucher - support a minimum wage increase, although so does Republican House contender Pat Muldoon. Republican Senate candidates John Warner and Jim Miller oppose it. Thomas Roberts, the Virginia Independent Party candidate of the House, believes the government should not be manipulating pay scales at all.
As for the cap for those 62 to 64, all the candidates favor raising that if the minimum wage goes up - except John Warner, who says the current caps are sufficient.
"From what it sounds like, everybody but [John] Warner says yes," Williams said. "That might help me a little bit when I decide who to vote for. ... If the minimum wage [increase] is passed, and maximum wage for persons under 65 is not raised ... then I'll have to quit my job or lose money."
"The way I'm working now, it works out just about right. I could go to work tomorrow [at some other job], make $20,000 a year, but I don't want to. I like what I'm doing."
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: (headshot) Hardy L. Williams. color. KEYWORDS: POLITICS CONGRESSby CNB