Latest news with #SantaFeChamberofCommerce
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Santa Fe Chamber presents annual Business Expo at convention center
More than 130 booths — many of them offering interactive elements — will be featured Thursday when the Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce presents its 2025 Business Expo at the Santa Fe Community Convention Center. The free event, from 3 to 6 p.m. at the convention center, 201 W. Marcy St., typically attracts more than 1,000 visitors, said Bridget Dixson, the chamber's president and CEO. 'I expect it to be even bigger this year,' Dixson said, citing the addition of two new attractions at the event, which has been presented by the chamber for more than 25 years. Those new attractions include a section devoted to Feria Mercado vendors, a group of south-side merchants and artists. The event also will offer a family-friendly corridor with children's activities and free child care. The Santa Fam website — which serves as a resource for fun, free or affordable activities for parents with small children in the city — will be holding a first birthday party for its Coffee & Crying group during the expo. The event also includes a bug show presented by the Santa Fe Bug and Reptile Museum, a concert and a performance by Belisama Irish Dance. Dixson said the chamber has been encouraging local businesses to be more responsive to the needs and wants of patrons with children for the past couple of years, especially after a recent study found Santa Fe was losing business to surrounding communities that offer more family-friendly entertainment options. 'That's really important,' she said, adding family-friendly options send a message to the community that Santa Fe is committed to recruiting and retaining young families. The number of booths included in this year's expo is the most since before the COVID-19 pandemic, Dixson said. Booth operators have been encouraged to offer hands-on experiences to visitors in an effort to engage them directly. The expo used to be an all-day event, she said, but it has been compacted into just three hours in recent years because so many business owners and managers continue to experience staffing issues, even with the pandemic long over. Along with serving as a significant networking opportunity, Dixson said the expo will offer participating businesses that fill out a vending form the chance to sell their goods or services directly to visitors. It also serves as a chance for employers to reach out to potential new workers, she said. 'This is a great opportunity to bring together entrepreneurs, small business owners and community leaders into one group,' Dixson said.
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Santa Fe city, county minimum hourly wage jumps to $15 this weekend
While the minimum wage for the city of Santa Fe and Santa Fe County is due to go up on Saturday, the annual increase will be the smallest in four years. This year's 40-cent increase, from $14.60 to $15 an hour, will be the least the minimum wage has gone up since 2021, when it increased from $12.10 to $12.32. The minimum wage — or 'living wage,' as Santa Fe city and county officials refer to it — increased by 57 cents last year, $1.08 in 2023 and 63 cents in 2022. Before 2021, increases of 40 cents or less per year were the norm. The minimum wage for tipped workers in the city and county will increase from $4.38 to $4.50 on Saturday. Bridget Dixson, president and CEO of the Santa Fe Chamber of Commerce, acknowledged that this year's increase would be relatively small. But she said its impact on her members definitely would be felt. 'I think it's a little bit easier lift than in the past,' she said. 'But our businesses are really dealing with a lot right now. Crime has increased. They need an opportunity to find their footing.' Dixson said many of her members are concerned about some of the measures state lawmakers are considering this session, including a bill that would raise the tax on alcohol. 'Businesses are getting hit in so many areas,' she said. Dixson said her organization does not do any outreach to alert its members to the annual minimum wage increase, but she said that is probably something it should be doing. 'Honestly, we're so focused on advocating for our businesses at the Legislature, we haven't done that,' she said. Beginning in 2015, both the city and county began adjusting their minimum wage each year based on the previous year's increase, if any, in the Consumer Price Index for the Western Region for urban wage earners and clerical workers. County officials said the CPI increase for 2024 was 2.76%. The city passed a law adjusting its minimum wage requirements based on the rate of inflation in 2007, while the county did likewise in 2015. When the city's minimum wage ordinance took effect in 2008, it effectively made Santa Fe a national leader in the living wage movement, which was initiated to supersede the federal minimum wage on a local or statewide basis. Johanna Nelson, Santa Fe's economic development director, did not respond to an emailed list of questions about the minimum wage increase. Historically, the federal minimum wage has remained static for many years at a time. It was increased to $7.25 an hour in 2009 but has not gone up since then. Over time, Santa Fe's status as a national leader in the movement has eroded significantly. Even with this weekend's planned increase, the city will rank far below many others in the size of its minimum wage. In fact, the five cities with the highest minimum wage are all in Washington state — Burien ($21.16 for large companies, $20.16 for medium companies), Tukwila ($21.10 and $20.10), Renton ($20.90 and 18.90), Seattle ($20.76 for all companies) and SeaTac ($20.17 for hospitality and transportation workers, $20.10 for medium companies). Washington leads all states in the nation with a mandated minimum wage of $16.66. Santa Fe also trails several large cities around the country, including Denver ($18.81); San Francisco ($18.67); San Jose, Calif. ($17.95); Washington, D.C. ($17.50), New York City ($16.50) and Chicago ($16.20). New Mexico's statewide $12-an-hour minimum wage also trails various other states, including California ($16.50); Connecticut ($16.35); New York ($15.50); New Jersey ($15.13); and Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Illinois, Maryland and Delaware ($15). Among neighboring states, Colorado has a minimum wage of $14.81, while the rate in Arizona is $14.70. New Mexico lawmakers are considering a measure that would increase the statewide minimum wage to $17 an hour, which would apply to tipped workers, as well. If it is passed, that would vault the state to the top of the national list.
