The Long Beach Business Journal reported Monday that businesses there are critical of the Long Beach City Council’s decision to raise the minimum wage to $13 an hour by 2019 with an eventual pathway to $15 an hour by 2021.

While the decision was hailed as a victory by some workers’ rights advocates, business owners argued consumers would ultimately be stuck with higher prices and fewer job opportunities. They also argued that small businesses, which will be hurt most severely by the higher wages, are being forced to solve a complex problem of poverty that has been exacerbated by conglomerate corporations.

Supporters of the $15-an-hour minimum wage campaign responded by calling concerns of higher prices and fewer jobs “fear mongering.”