DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – The task force recommending a $10.75 minimum wage in Polk County also is recommending that employers would have to pay only 85 percent of that wage to workers younger than 18. The task force voted for the recommendation Thursday. The plan now goes to the county Board of Supervisors.

The proposal would boost Polk County’s minimum wage to $8.75 in April. It would reach $10.75 by January 2019. Some task force members sought the lower wage for young workers because of limitations placed on the teens’ duties and hours. Polk County Assistant Attorney Roger Kuhle had told task force members the separate youth wage would put the county’s ordinance on “thinner ice” legally, because state law applies the minimum wage for workers 14 and older.