KSHB 41 reporter Ryan Gamboa covers Miami County in Kansas and Cass County in Missouri. He also covers agricultural topics. Share your story idea with Ryan.
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On Wednesday, the Belton, Missouri, Chamber of Commerce, alongside its neighboring community chamber, hosted a town hall on the topic of minimum wage law changes.
Last year, Missouri voters passed Proposition A, a ballot measure that 58% of Missourians approved to guarantee paid sick leave for workers, with incremental increases to the minimum wage based on inflation.
Missouri State Rep. Sherri Gallick (R-Belton) was the keynote speaker at Wednesday's meeting. Rep. Bill Irwin (R-Lee's Summit) also stood alongside her.
Rep. Gallick sponsored Missouri House Bill 567, legislation that modifies employee compensation and repeals paid sick leave provisions.
"Our job as legislators is to look at things and see if there are any unintended consequences on something that was passed," Gallick explained.
The purpose of Wednesday's events was to educate Cass County business leaders and the general public about what they should expect.
HB 567 increased the minimum wage in Missouri to $13.75 for the rest of 2025.
On Jan. 1, 2026, the minimum wage increases to $15. The cost increases and decreases each year would be based on the change in the Consumer Price Index.
"The biggest thing is that one size doesn't fit all," Gallick said. "A grocery store is not the same as a barge business that goes up and down the Missouri River."
Rep. Gallick, alongside the Missouri Chamber of Commerce, spoke during the brief presentation and shared a similar sentiment.
"A business in Cass County that manufactures goods is different than the tourism industry in the Ozarks," said Kara Corches, the president and CEO of the Missouri Chamber of Commerce. "We always firmly say, let’s businesses decide, these decisions are best left to the people that know how to run their workplaces and know their employees better than any type of governmental mandate."
At a Proposition A celebration in May 2025, Terrance Wise, a leader with Standup KC and the Missouri Workers Center, praised the Missouri Supreme Court for upholding the will of the voters before HB 567 was signed into law.
"We won in Democratic districts, Republican districts, suburbs, rural communities, and cities," he emphasized during his speech.
Rep. Gallick shared with businesses and employers alike on Wednesday as a Missouri group gathers signatures statewide.
It's another effort to approve the original Proposition A inflation connection to minimum wage again. This time, a constitutional amendment makes it more difficult for lawmakers to overturn.
"Once you realize and hear the information, there’s 13 different pages in what could hit the ballot. Once you know what’s in that, it's up to you to decide," Gallick said.
KSHB 41 Cass County Beat Reporter Ryan Gamboa met with the Harrisonville, Missouri, city administrator.
"It’s raising our cost, raising our costs puts more pressure on our residents. That’s the source of where our revenue comes from," Brad Ratliff explained.
The City of Harrisonville is working on its next budget for the new fiscal year, which will start on Jan. 1, 2026.
The city is working on setting aside money for a higher cost of wages in 2026.
About 60% of Harrisonville's workforce is part-time, according to Ratliff. That's where it will feel the biggest hit.
He says the city Parks department often hires young people for seasonal summertime work.
"We're trying to figure out how we're going to continue the services that our residents expect with a continued range of revenue loss, which keeps coming from the state legislature on every impact that we have in our communities," Ratliff said.
The Raymore-Peculiar School District has approximately 1,000 employees, including non-certified and certified staff members.
The district already implemented a $15 minimum wage in its current fiscal year, which begins in July.
"Over 75% of our budget goes to salaries and benefits," said Ruth Johnson, a Ray-Pec School Board member. "Those non-certified, how you get them up to that $15 and maintain that, how does that impact teacher salaries. Because you may have people coming in working enough hours and they’re making what some teachers are making."
KSHB 41 reported on the Ray-Pec School District's newest program, an Integrated Learning House. The program provides students with real-world work experience inside a functioning campus home.
Rep. Gallick fears mandatory wage regulations could force businesses across the state line in Kansas.
Johnson told KSHB 41 the district is heavily reliant on community business partnerships, and any strain on those relationships would force it to find other means of providing opportunity to its students.
"Our businesses really came alongside us and got that project off the ground. We’ve got a lot of students and academics who go on working with small businesses, so if those were to change in numbers, then we’d have to balance giving students that same academic level with maybe fewer businesses," she said. "That’s all down the road. Right now, we’ve got good reserves that are going to allow us to maintain what we have right now."
It's a budgeting balancing act for employers and businesses alike ahead of a potential constitutional amendment vote in 2026.
"We want to have our businesses in our communities and not just have jobs for our kids, but long-term jobs for people that will live and work and be in our communities," Ratliff added. "It’s a constant walking a tightrope."
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