<\/p>\n
The minimum wage in Colorado increased from $9.30 to $10.20 an hour on New Year\u2019s Day, but it is unlikely to change pay for many employees in Durango, where the entry-level wage for a job is higher than $10.20.<\/p>\n
However, when the minimum wage rises to $12 an hour in 2020, it\u2019s unclear if the increase will boost pay for entry-level employees in Durango or cause business owners to look for alternatives to hiring.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Durango, it\u2019s hard enough to find quality employees that if you\u2019re paying them minimum wage, you are not going to have them for long,\u201d said Ted Hermesman, owner of Days Inn.<\/p>\n
Hermesman said an employee might be hired at minimum wage initially to ensure the new hire has the proper work ethic, but within a week, if the employee shows basic work competency, he or she will receive a raise.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you hire a high school kid, and he makes a difference for you, if the kid is good at his job, supply and demand is going to take over, and he will not be making minimum wage for long,\u201d Hermesman said.<\/p>\n
On Nov. 8, 2016, Colorado voters passed Amendment 70, which raised the minimum wage across Colorado by 90 cents a year until it reaches $12 an hour in 2020. The measure passed 55 percent to 45 percent.<\/p>\n
Rocky Moss, manager of the Cortez Area Chamber of Commerce and the Dolores Chamber of Commerce, said the minimum wage increase might have more of an impact in rural Southwest Colorado and in towns outside of Durango.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s going to cost you incrementally,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you have a payroll, and you have 120 hours a week, you can do the math. Yeah, I think it\u2019s going to have an impact.\u201d<\/p>\n
Moss said the increase in the minimum wage could also force increases in pay up the wage-scale ladder, causing additional payroll costs.<\/p>\n
The McDonald\u2019s in Cortez, she said, has added two kiosks for customers to self-order. \u201cWho knows if more of that will start to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brandon Shubert, owner of Stonefish Sushi and More on Main Street said the changes will not affect the restaurant that much.<\/p>\n
\u201cEven my cooks and dishwashers make more than minimum wage, so it didn\u2019t affect us a whole lot,\u201d Shubert said. \u201cI try to get close to a living wage as I can, and that is why I keep people for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n
The chambers of commerce in Cortez and Dolores want to conduct a study of the minimum wage increase in the two communities, she said, and would like to hear from businesses about the impact of the rate increase.<\/p>\n
She added that a $12 minimum wage might not harm job creation on the economically vibrant Front Range, but it could dampen job creation in rural Colorado.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t have the resources you have in a large municipality,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
In November, Cortez Recreation Center supervisor Joye McHenry asked the Cortez City Council for a $36,533 increase in the regular wages budget, in part for a few new hires, but also because of the rise in the minimum wage. The rec center, which employs a large number of the city\u2019s part-time staff, could see more direct impacts from the change, but City Manager Shane Hale said he expected all departments to be affected.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt kind of ripples through the whole budget,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got four different pay classes that are making under what the new minimum wage is going to be, so we have to adjust everything upward.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Dec. 12, the City Council voted to approve a $32.28 million budget for 2018 that includes a roughly $1 million increase in spending from 2017, which was just over $31 million. Most of the increases come from capital projects and planned increases in employee wages. Hale said wages will increase a total of 2.5 percent in 2018, adding in a memo that the city needed to remain \u201ccompetitive with wage and benefits.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chris Block, co-owner of Three Peaks Deli & Grill, 2411 Main Ave., said all his employees currently make more than $10.20 an hour.<\/p>\n
However, in 2019, when the minimum wage goes up to $11.10 an hour the business might need to make adjustments.<\/p>\n
Next year, Block said, the business might have to use more formal accounting methods to ensure tips are keeping wages above the minimum wage.<\/p>\n
Block said a more formal accounting of tips would be his first step before looking to increase prices.<\/p>\n
Shane Lugo, district manager for Wendy\u2019s, said wages at the store increased last month, and prices were increased three months ago.<\/p>\n
Future annual price adjustments would likely take into account the cost of wage increases.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, Hermesman said, it is job-holders themselves who need to look at their own skill sets, aptitudes and work ethics in seeking wage increases beyond the minimum wage.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople need to be responsible for themselves and quit having the government do everything for them,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Journal contributed to this article.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" chamber worries about job creation in rural Colorado<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":102120,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[21,2518,1605,1255,13,1634],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-102119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-cortez","tag-economic-policy","tag-employee","tag-employment","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-wage-and-pension"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102119"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=102119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}