Small-business owners – particularly restaurant operators – said Tuesday they are growing tired of the 18-month debate over increasing the minimum wage in Portland.

But it doesn’t appear that the discussion will end anytime soon after the City Council decided Monday to put off action on a $10.10 an hour minimum until September and to place a proposed $15 an hour minimum on the ballot in November.

“I don’t think we’re doing anyone any favors here,” said Michelle Corry, whose restaurants include Five Fifty-Five and Petite Jacqueline in Portland. Corry said the proposal for a $15 minimum, which also calls for an $11.25 an hour base wage for tip earners, might force her to re-evaluate whether she can afford to do business in Portland, and it would likely lead to restaurant patrons cutting back on tips.

“That’s the most frustrating part of it,” she said. “Employees are going to eventually lose. We’re going to lose, and the customer is going to lose because they’re going to pay more. I don’t know who it is benefiting, to be completely honest with you.”

Twenty-three U.S. towns, cities and counties have adopted their own minimum wages, according to a May report issued by the National Employment Law Project, a nonprofit advocacy group for low-income workers.

Advocates argue that higher wages will boost the local economy by giving people more money to spend at local businesses. Portland’s Green Independent Committee members are pushing for $15 as the minimum because they say anything less is not truly a livable wage.

Opponents say higher wages could lead to fewer jobs and higher prices for customers. And some are warning that businesses could leave Portland or not move here if labor costs are higher than in surrounding communities.

Portland has been debating a citywide minimum wage for 18 months, ever since Mayor Michael Brennan made the issue a priority in his 2014 State of the City address.

The council passed an ordinance this month that would increase the minimum wage to $10.10 on Jan. 1. But it quickly learned that the ordinance language also increases the separate base wage paid to tipped employees to $6.35 despite assurances to the restaurant industry that waiters and waitresses would be exempt from the new minimum. Servers who earn tips can take in $30 to $40 an hour, although restaurants currently must pay them only $3.75 an hour – half of the statewide $7.50 an hour minimum wage.

On Monday, the council began the process of suspending and rewriting the ordinance, but it delayed final action until September to give city staff time to sort out contradicting legal arguments about how any change in the minimum would affect tip earners.

Some advocates, such as the Maine Women’s Lobby, already are calling on the city to keep the ordinance the same, while the business community wants the city to revise it to reflect its original intent.

‘FATIGUE AND TREMENDOUS … FEAR’

As that council debate continues, the Portland Green Independent Committee successfully collected enough signatures to force a November referendum question asking residents to adopt a $15 an hour wage by 2019. The council on Monday formally scheduled the vote for November, adding another layer of uncertainty for businesses.

“I sense a bit of fatigue and tremendous amount of fear about $15 an hour,” said Greg Dugal, executive director of the Maine Restaurant and Maine Innkeepers associations. “Frankly, I don’t think many will be able to do that. It’s a pretty scary time for small businesses.”

While restaurant owners have been vocal in opposing an increase in the base wages of tipped workers, other small businesses such as retailers and convenience stores haven’t objected because they don’t want to be punished economically or politically for appearing to be anti-worker, according to the Portland Community Chamber of Commerce, which believes minimum wage increases should occur at the state or federal level.

Chamber lobbyist Chris O’Neil said that many small-business owners are nevertheless dejected over proposed wage increases, with some businesses vowing to leave Portland if the wage gets too high. O’Neil said the council’s minimum wage plan creates the “perception that local policymakers can and will act in a fashion that could be detrimental to their business.”

Critics say the prospect that Portland will raise its minimum wage, while surrounding communities such as South Portland, Westbrook and Scarborough do not, will encourage businesses to locate where labor is cheaper and will prompt customers to spend their money in communities where prices are more affordable.

“It’s not like customers around here aren’t a little bit mobile,” said Drew Sigfridson, a managing director of broker services for CBRE | the Boulos Co.

DRIVING BUSINESSES OUT OF CITY

Sigfridson said some retailers are reconsidering whether to renew their leases in Portland over concerns about paying higher wages. A manufacturer recently decided against setting up shop in Portland because of the wage issue and would likely land in Westbrook or South Portland, he said. He wouldn’t name any of the businesses.

“I think it could potentially be one of these issues where maybe we don’t recognize an immediate impact,” Sigfridson said. “But a few years down the road, we may recognize a direct correlation between forcing this wage on employers and having employers decide they could just as easily do their business in another municipality and retain their profits.”

Barbara Anania, who owns Anania’s Variety Store, lamented that there is no training wage for younger workers who are getting their first jobs. She said the store is unlikely to hire high school students if the wages increase, since those wages would likely attract more skilled employees.

“We feel like a lot of high schoolers won’t have the opportunity to work,” she said. “I just feel like there are issues the city doesn’t understand.”

DECIDING TIP EARNERS’ BASE WAGE

On July 6, councilors passed an ordinance increasing the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour on Jan. 1, 2016, and $10.68 on Jan. 1, 2017. Future increases would be tied to inflation.

But they are moving to rewrite that ordinance because it inadvertently included a raise for tip earners, something the restaurant industry had been warning the council against. That’s because the ordinance maintains the current tip credit of $3.75 – the difference between a tip earner’s base wage and the minimum. If workers’ tips do not bring their pay to the minimum wage, it is up to the employer to make up the difference.

Councilors could decide to revise the ordinance as soon as Sept. 9, but it remains unclear how they would do it.

On Monday, an outside attorney hired by the city suggested the council simply set a base wage for tipped workers that is equal to the current statewide base wage – $3.75 – without worrying about the tip credit.

Another attorney, however, has said that state law effectively sets the base wage at 50 percent of the minimum, which would be $5.05 an hour under the city ordinance.

It’s also possible, although less likely, that the council could go along with advocates who are lobbying to leave the ordinance alone and set the base wage at $6.35 an hour – the minimum wage minus the state tip credit.

Adding to the confusion, the council could adopt its new minimum in September only to have wages increased again at the ballot box in November.

That referendum proposal calls for a $15 an hour minimum wage for most employees, and an $11.25 base wage for tip earners, by 2019. Employers with 500 or fewer employees would have four years to transition, while those with more than 500 employees would have to comply by 2017. Future increases would be tied to inflation. If the measure passes in November, the council wouldn’t be able to modify it for five years.

Portland could be the first Maine city with a local minimum. Bangor also is considering adopting its own minimum wage.