A Business Review event on Thursday, the day of statewide primary elections, highlighted the impact that the elections and hot-button state issues will have on the private sector.

Executives should soon brace for a renewed push to raise New York’s minimum wage, panelists told an audience at the Power Breakfast, held in Troy. Hints of how that debate will play out can be found in the state’s current cap on property tax increases, panelists said.

“We have not seen an issue in New York this popular since the support for a property tax cap,” said panelist Steve Greenberg, of Greenberg Public Relations, in Clifton Park. Greenberg noted that a majority of every segment of voters surveyed, including Republicans, supported raising the minimum wage.

“My question is, is this the right time?” asked Brian Merriam, fourth-generation owner of Merriam Insurance Agency, in Schenectady. “If the economy was doing wonderfully, by all means, let’s have this discussion. Let’s consider the times in which we find ourselves, with all the mandates we already have to meet. I only have so much money with which to pay my 18 employees.”….

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