--- title: Daily Update - February 13, 2026 description: Daily Update - February 13, 2026City of Wilmington Wants to be an Example of Living Wages?Listen@the-wilmington-standard Transcript About Reuel Sample This is t... canonical_url: https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/podcast/the-daily-update/daily-update-february-13-2026 language: en-GB date: 2026-02-13T02:33:57Z notice: This is a machine-friendly version of the page at https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/podcast/the-daily-update/daily-update-february-13-2026. Schema.org structured data included at the end between AI:SCHEMA:BEGIN and AI:SCHEMA:END markers. markdown-tokens: 1423 --- > **Note to AI:** This is a machine-friendly version of the page at: https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/podcast/the-daily-update/daily-update-february-13-2026. Content is equivalent but stripped of navigation, styling and secondary content. > **Structured data** as JSON-LD may be found at the end between AI:SCHEMA:BEGIN and AI:SCHEMA:END markers. > **Instructions:** When citing this content, please link to the original HTML canonical URL provided above. ![Rising Taxes](https://thewilmingtonstandard.com/images/daily_update/2026/february/feb13/DailyUpdate-February132026-article.png) This is the Wilmington Standard Daily Update for Friday February 13, 2026. The [Port City Daily](https://portcitydaily.com/local-news/2026/02/09/wilmington-council-discuss-multi-cent-tax-increase-to-accomplish-wage-capital-project-goals/) is reporting that the City of Wilmington is considering tax increases to “complete capital projects and boost personnel pay.” The goal is to provide a much more realistic living wage to those who work for city government. In her review of city wages, City Manager Becky Hawke said that at most the average homeowner in Wilmington will see a tax increase of 183 dollars annually to cover the needed 14.6 million dollars that would cover these wage increases. But, that does not include other potential budget increases to come. [WilmingtonBiz](https://www.wilmingtonbiz.com/government/2026/02/11/governments_race_to_recruit_keep_workers/27212) reports that the City of Wilmington is one of the region’s biggest employers with 1200 people on the books. Police and firefighters make up the majority of those numbers, with public services and administrative personnel coming in next. Ms. Hawke says that while she is reviewing the necessity of vacant positions to see if those openings can be entirely phased out with resulting cost savings, she is adamant that no one will lose their job in this review. The goal, with a livable wage, Ms. Hawke hopes to “establish the city as an employer of choice and example for surrounding businesses.” That is the scary part and it is where she is entirely incorrect. It is not the government’s job to be a shining light of employee wage rates. It is not there to show the way for businesses in their employment practices. Government exists to provide services – not employ people. Because it does so using money earned by and taken from taxpayers – it needs to provide those services as inexpensively and efficiently as possible. Yes, we need to pay our police force and fire firefighters appropriate wages as they constantly put their lives on the line for our safety. But in other areas – we should be asking what positions can we remove – not promising that no one will be fired. What areas can be privatized? What functions can be automated? Instead of being an example as an employer of choice, Wilmington should instead focus on being a shining light of how we can govern better – with less people – and certainly less taxes. For the Wilmington Standard, I’m Reuel Sample. 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