Bar and restaurant owners in Franklin County and the North Quabbin region are generally pleased after roughly 64% of Massachusetts voters rejected ballot Question 5 on Tuesday, a measure that would have gradually increased how much employers must pay workers who collect tips, like servers in restaurants.

Ballots cast in Franklin County and the North Quabbin region largely mirrored the statewide results, with voters largely opposing the initiative. Only two towns, Leverett and Wendell, voted to approve the measure by tight margins of 627-602 and 296-270, respectively.

Had it passed, Question 5 would have gradually increased the minimum hourly wage for tipped workers from $6.75, excluding tips, to $15, excluding tips, over the course of five years. Currently, if a tipped worker’s $6.75 hourly wage plus their tips do not add up to a $15 per hour wage, their employer is required to pay them the difference. The ballot question would have also allowed for the distribution of pooled tips evenly among workers who aren’t managers.

Question 5 proponents argued that the gradual increase in wages would help tipped workers make a livable wage. Others, such as Main Street Bar & Grille co-owner Christina Guezin-Gurney, argued that passage of the measure would have indirectly resulted in higher meal prices for customers, and consequently, smaller tips for servers.

“My employees were in support of that not passing because they already make more than minimum wage,” Guezin-Gurney said. “Their feedback was that they wouldn’t be able to survive if customers stopped tipping.”

In Millers Falls, North Village Smokehouse owner Sean Keller, who posted signs outside his restaurant urging passersby to vote against the ballot question, referred to it as a “tax grab,” since it would put servers’ tips on the books.

Keller said he has spent the last 26 years working in the food and beverage service industry, the last six as a business owner. He noted that in the event that a server’s total earnings, including tips, do not equal minimum wage, state law already requires him to pay employees the difference.

“My opinion is based on experience. I was a tipped employee for most of my adult life and I always made well above minimum wage because people tipped well,” Keller said. “In six years, I think I had to pay an employee a couple extra dollars per hour [to cover the difference] once or twice, and that’s on nights where there was a snowstorm or something like that.”

Keller said his staff was concerned that passage of Question 5 would alter tipping culture, causing customers to tip less, or less frequently. He noted that the measure’s alterations to pooled tipping would also give managers and restaurant owners an inappropriate control over tip distribution.

“When I read it, how it was worded, I thought, was very odd. It would allow legally pooled tips for the owner to have control over,” Keller said. “As a bartender and server, I never had the owners in control of my tips, and as an owner, I’ve never had control over the customers’ tips.”

Wendy Anderson, who owns Quabbin Woods Restaurant in Petersham, said she voted “no” on Question 5. She feels the way tips work now should remain the same.

“We should just stay the way that we are,” Anderson said. “It’s hard enough to pay people already.”

While she said she is not against the idea of minimum wage, Anderson noted that even with the restaurants’ small staff of four, including herself with limited hours, it is hard to pay everyone. After working 30 years in the restaurant industry, she feels that tips help provide incentive for staff to provide the best service possible.

On the other side of this argument, Jill Fishman, owner of Dreamhouse, a brunch restaurant and bar in Turners Falls, has spoken in favor of the ballot initiative. Having worked in the restaurant industry as a server and now as an owner, she said she believes in a fair minimum wage, which she incorporates into her business’ pay structure, with all staff making $27 per hour.

When asked about her reaction to the initiative failing on Tuesday, though, Fishman said she wasn’t surprised at all.

“I didn’t really think it was going to pass with the amount of money that was funneled into it not passing,” Fishman said.

The money funneled into advocating against Question 5 that Fishman was referring to came from state organizations like the Massachusetts Restaurant Association, which advocated against the initiative. The association argued that the consequence of raising the minimum wage for tipped workers in restaurants and bars would result in a loss of tips for servers, restaurants closing, job losses for tipped workers, higher prices for consumers and non-tipped workers getting access to tip pools for the first time.

Ballotpedia reports that the Massachusetts Restaurant Association donated more than $666,000 to the largest opposition committee, the Committee to Protect Tips. Between contributions and expenditures, the Committee to Protect Tips had more than $2.5 million for its campaign against the ballot question, compared to the One Fair Wage Plus Tips MA Committee, which advocated in favor of Question 5 with $1.2 million behind it.

Outside of Massachusetts, other states had similar initiatives on their ballots seeking to increase the minimum wage for tipped workers. According to NPR, voters in Missouri and Alaska approved raising the minimum wage for these workers to $15 an hour through gradual increases, similar to what the Massachusetts initiative proposed.

Despite the initiative failing, Fishman said she does feel it created a valuable conversation around tipping and minimum wage. She said that since the COVID-19 pandemic, many workers became more aware of the value of their work, as well as the income they are making and if it is sufficient.

“I think it had a really important conversation happening, both within and outside of the restaurant community,” Fishman said. “And I feel like that’s been really valuable.”

Anthony Cammalleri can be reached at acammalleri@recorder.com or 413-930-4429. Erin-Leigh Hoffman can be reached at ehoffman@recorder.com or 413-930-4231.