Kelly Byers runs Leonardo’s Pizza in Burlington. He says the wage increase may squeeze his bottom line. “It’ll hurt a little bit but I think it’s worth it to pay the employees what they deserve,” Byers said.

Charles Handy owns Handy’s service center down the road. He says increasing minimum wage won’t effect his business. “Nobody works at minimum wage anyway in this state here," Handy said. "You know we generally start way above minimum wage and that’s the only way you could even hire anybody.”

Vermont has the third-highest minimum wage in the country. It was one of 8 states to raise its minimum wage on Jan 1. Minimum wage in New York state is the same as the federal rate, $7.25 an hour.