An influential City Council committee on Monday overwhelmingly endorsed a new living wage ordinance that would significantly raise the minimum wage of employees of companies getting public subsidies or winning city contracts.

The decision by the Ways and Means Committee, if passed by the full City Council, would raise the wages of “several hundred” workers to a minimum of $12.09 an hour and fine companies that do not comply with the wage standards. It was, said Council Member Paul Zerby (Ward 2), a “sound step forward.”

But the added costs to the city could range from $500,000 to as much as $11 million a year, according to critics. City Coordinator John Moir estimated that enforcement costs alone would total $250,000 annually, in addition to at least $2.5 million a year in added costs for the city’s parking contract, which is currently in negotiations.

Chamber of Commerce president Todd Klingel expressed similar reservations about the ordinance’s costs to the city, as well as its impact on the local economy, its affect on nonprofit organizations that had not been exempted, and the “onerous” bookkeeping requirements of companies doing business with the city. “We are not opposed to living wages,” he said. “But we hope you will thoughtfully address many of these questions.”

Council President Paul Ostrow (Ward 1) supported the move, but encouraged the coalition of more than 20 labor, community, and faith groups to move beyond the city limits to encourage other nearby municipalities to make a similar commitment. “For this to be meaningful, the city of Minneapolis cannot go alone on this. It has to be regional,” he said. “This will not be a success if that doesn’t happen.”

The full City Council is expected to pass the measure at its regular meeting on Friday.