A hand recount today of the ballots cast on SeaTac Proposition 1, the $15 hour an hour minimum wage law, does not appear to have changed the outcome, according to observers for the No side in the campaign.

“Close only counts in horseshoes,” said Mike West, Co-Chair of Common Sense SeaTac, the citizen and business group that opposed the union-backed initiative. “Even though the citizens of SeaTac are narrowly divided on the wisdom of this idea, the businesses now have to prepare for living with this measure.”

“As we said during the campaign, this measure will have undesirable effects. Across some 70 businesses, there are likely to be price increases, layoffs, changes in hiring, as well as the administrative costs expected on the taxpayers of SeaTac. But business managers are innovators and problem-solvers. Collectively we will work with the City to seek the least costly path to implementation and individually each business will work to survive,” West said.

The measure calls for implementation on January 1, 2014, but it must also survive legal challenges. Alaska Airlines, the Port of Seattle, the Washington Public Ports Association, the Washington Restaurant Association, and Filo Foods have challenged numerous aspects of the initiative.