Small-business owners and child-care providers at a City of Longmont fishbowl on Oct. 1, 2025, said many local firms already absorb rising costs for rent, utilities, insurance and labor and that a higher municipal minimum wage without additional supports could force closures, cut hours or push owners to restructure operations.

Sarah Morgan, owner of Martini’s Bistro, described a restaurant that already pays well above state minimum for many staff because the business forewent tip credits and operates a pooled-tip model: “My base level minimum wage employee is averaging $22 an hour already, and, he's 15,” Morgan said, noting her business’s bench of high-school workers who progress into higher-paid tipped roles. Morgan and other restaurant owners warned that raising base wages while retaining a tip structure would compress pay scales and could force steeper menu price increases. “My revenue is staying the same, but my costs are increasing,” she said.

Child-care providers said their sector faces separate pressures: licensing and training requirements, background checks and state-mandated professional development raise the cost to hire and retain staff. Amy May, owner of Treehouse Learning, said the industry must balance staff pay, low child-to-staff ratios and parental affordability. “The barrier to even set foot in the classroom is very, very, very high,” she said, noting centers in the county already pay above national averages and that turnover undermines child development.

Owners from Main Street businesses and the downtown development community also raised local permitting and lease-cost problems. Isaac Olson of Meeko Coffee Collective and other restaurateurs described multi-month permitting delays that delayed equipment installation and openings; one speaker said an oven permit took four months. Business owners suggested the city could help by cutting permitting backlog, creating small-business incentives, developing child-care subsidies tied to employment, and working with landlords on triple-net cost impacts.

The Colorado Restaurant Association presented a case study of a neighborhood restaurant that has seen labor, utilities and food costs rise while sales fell, leaving it “3% in the red every month,” according to association director Nick Hoover. Hoover also flagged a state-level change removing a vendor fee that helps small merchants offset sales-tax collection costs.

Council members asked firms to submit a specific dollar amount — the wage at which each firm would begin to experience severe operational harm — and staff asked businesses to email those figures. No ordinance was proposed at the meeting; council framed the session as fact-finding and invited ideas for targeted city actions such as child-care credits, affordable housing, reduced permitting friction and small-business incentives.