As a child care provider in Portland, I am deeply concerned about the city’s proposed minimum wage increase to $20 an hour. While well intentioned, this policy will unintentionally harm the very families and children it aims to support.

This year showed us how fragile the child care sector is. Gov. Mills initially proposed cutting $15 million in child care salary supplements — reducing average wages from $16.40 to $15.15 an hour. Only after tireless advocacy were these cuts reversed. With state budget pressures and uncertainty from federal funding, these wage supports could disappear again at any time. If Portland mandates $20 per hour, without state reimbursement to match, many providers will simply not be able to keep up.

Child care centers that serve low-income families rely heavily on state subsidy payments. But those reimbursement rates won’t increase with Portland’s wage mandate, leaving providers with the impossible choice of taking a loss or reducing subsidy slots. For families already facing a waitlist of more than 600 children, this would only make things worse.

Maine already loses an estimated $403 million annually from child care shortages. Driving up costs even further could push more parents out of the workforce — especially when infant care already exceeds $10,000 a year.

We share the goal of fair wages, but unless state and federal supports increase alongside local mandates, this policy risks undermining access to child care for working families who need it most.

Tamara Gallagher
Westbrook