KRWG TV/FM, NPR Public Media for Southwestern New Mexico and Far West Texas, Jan 1, 2015
Las Cruces starts the new year with a new minimum wage. The wage increases by 90 cents today...going from the state-mandated $7.50 an hour to $8.40. It’s the first of three planned increases, which should result in a $10.10 minimum wage in 2019. ...
In a column that appeared this week in the Las Cruces Sun News and in newspapers nationwide, Chris Sommers wrote about his experience increasing his lowest paid employees to $10.10 an hour last spring. The co-owner of Pi Pizzerias and Gringo Mexican Restaurants located in Missouri and elsewhere said the higher pay led to increased productivity and reduced turnover at his restaurants, not higher prices. He talked about the experience in an interview with South Carolina radio station WGCV, where he added that a higher minimum wage can lead to more spending in a community.
Sommers is a member of the group Business for a Fair Minimum Wage, which is pushing for a federal minimum wage increase to $10.10 an hour. Provided no additional changes by the city council, the Las Cruces minimum wage is scheduled to increase to $9.20 in 2017 and $10.10 in 2019.