Cruces business owners want city to reconsider wage hike

Hourly minimum pay scheduled to rise to $10.10 in January

LAS CRUCES — Angry business owners are urging the Las Cruces City Council to reconsider increasing the city’s minimum wage in January.

The City Council in 2014 approved a three-step increase in the minimum wage. The final step will increase the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour next month. The current rate is $9.20 per hour.

The minimum wage in most of New Mexico, including the rest of Doña Ana County, is $7.50 an hour. Albuquerque is now at $8.95 and Santa Fe is at $11.40, and the counties where they are located, have also implemented higher minimum wages.

“We’re going to see a lot of businesses closing,” said Buffy Johnson, who owns Home Instead Senior Care. “Maybe we need to reconsider this. I don’t think it’s prudent to do it at this time.”

Ten different people spoke out against the increase during the question during the public comment period of Monday’s City Council meeting.

Mayor Ken Miyagishima was clearly surprised by the criticism, asking speakers why they didn’t attend a work session held during the summer about the minimum wage increase. Most of the speakers said they didn’t know about it.

“When you didn’t show up for the summer meeting,” Miyagishima said, “I assumed everything was fine.”

Owners of daycare centers and restaurants were the most represented among the speakers. Both industries have many minimum wage workers.

Daycare owners said they couldn’t afford to increase their rates to pay for the wage increase because many of their customers struggle to pay for child care already. In addition, the amount of money they receive for customers who get state child care subsidies would not increase.

“This is going to make child care centers have to close their doors,” said Sheri Seay, owner of Little Tumbleweeds daycare. “We can’t raise our prices. We’re maxed out.”