Santa Fe has had a living wage since 2004. It's actually the highest minimum-wage requirement of its kind in the country.
The law raised the city's
minimum wage from the federal level of $5.15 an hour to $8.50 an hour,
a 65 percent increase. Earlier this year, the amount was bumped to $9.50 an hour.
An interesting new study on the wage, released by the Bureau of Business and Economic Research at the University of New Mexico, looks at the effects of the wage. The verdict: There really aren't any effects. At least not financial ones.
According to the study, the wage requirment hasn't hurt Santa Fe businesses at all. But it hasn't spurred the economy, either.
As the Santa Fe Living Wage Network's Carol Oppenheimer told the Albuquerque Journal , "This program was
never passed as an economic stimulus package. ... It was passed in the
context of a moral framework that said no one should have to work on
the lower wages."
Judging the moral impact on Santa Fe is a little tricky. But economically at least, the living wage hasn't hurt or helped.
Zach Patton -- Executive Editor. Zach has written about a range of topics, including social policy issues and urban planning and design. Originally from Tennessee, he joined GOVERNING as a staff writer in 2004. He received the 2011 Jesse H. Neal Award for Outstanding Journalism
E-mail: zpatton@governing.com 
Written and compiled by staff writers and editors, GOVERNING View is an on-the-ground, and sometimes behind-the-scenes, look at the topics we're covering in print and online. From notes on what's up in statehouses, county courthouses and city halls, to encounters with people, places and things, GOVERNING View is a window into the side of state and local government you don't always see.
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