I am the proud owner of Town & Country Event Rental in Van Nuys, where we have been since I started the company more than 10 years ago. We provide our clients with high-quality event furnishings and services as well as employ 450 people in well-paying full-time jobs in a great working environment that offers a real opportunity for advancement.

But now I am concerned for our very survival. I do not know how we are going to weather the impending minimum-wage increase. With exceptionally high taxes, overburdensome wage and hour regulations, the impending replacement of 20 trucks out of a fleet of 70 at a cost of almost $2 million to comply with the California Air Resources Board, skyrocketing costs of an unfair workers’ compensation system that is slowly bleeding us due to fraudulent claims, not to mention increasing health care premiums, I am extremely worried that we will not be able to absorb this additional wage increase.

Due to the nature of our business, labor is our highest cost at approximately 55 percent. Currently, we hire nonskilled workers to load and unload trucks and set up equipment for events at a rate of $9.50 to $10 an hour, which is slightly above the current minimum wage. To these employees, we offer 40 hours a week, a generous amount of overtime, full benefits and a great health care plan. Every person we hire is encouraged to learn our business so they can achieve advancement.

With essentially a 60 percent increase, we will be out of business. There is just not enough profit to come close to covering this added expense. My annual payroll will rise from $10 million to $16 million.

Out of business

Simply put, this increase will put us out of business along with similar companies that create a large part of the economy in Los Angeles. Not only is this minimum-wage increase bad, but it will also kick up our payroll tax, overtime pay rates and our already overpriced workers’ compensation premiums. With all costs considered, we are essentially looking at a $20-an-hour minimum wage.

Furthermore, we must face the fact that bringing in hires at such a high rate for the type of work to be done will cause our current workers who have been here for years to demand pay increases in proportion to the new minimum-wage workers. We cannot afford this and will not be able to increase our prices to an extent that will cover the high cost of labor. We will have no choice but to close our doors, auction off our inventory and put 450 people out of work.

Some of our largest competitors are located outside the city of Los Angeles (i.e., El Segundo, Inglewood, Covina) and will not be subject to the city’s minimum-wage increase, positioning them at a more competitive price point and leaving us to play on an unlevel playing field. I couldn’t try to think about raising my prices to survive. Again, I will be out of business and 450 people will be out of work. In the 46 years that I have been in my industry, I have never seen anything more frightening than this.

Over the many years I have been in business, I have experienced many bumps in the road along with hurdles that were challenging yet doable. However, this wage increase is by far the closest thing to unobtainable that I’ve ever seen. A good friend and colleague of mine who operates a similar company located in the Bay Area town of Richmond has laid off more than 200 workers with good pay by changing his business model and cutting his products and services due to that city’s recent mandatory wage increase.

Instead of laying the blame for the working poor on the doorstep of honest, hardworking business people and job creators such as myself, I suggest the city, along with the state, accept the blame for not making the state more business friendly. With more businesses, jobs are created and advanced opportunity becomes available for unskilled labor to realize higher wages and a pathway out of the society of the “working poor” due to the law of supply and demand of employees.

I urge the City Council members and Mayor Eric Garcetti to understand the real ramifications of this law to labor-intensive businesses such as mine and the many other companies that offer well-paying jobs and advancement to the unskilled labor force who live and work in Los Angeles. On behalf of the 450 people who make up my company, I ask for a reasonable alternative to the minimum-wage ordinance so that we can survive.

Richard F. LoGuercio is owner and president of Town & Country Event Rentals in Van Nuys.