At least five cities and one Colorado county are considering raising their local minimum wage, which, if approved, could go into effect as soon as Jan. 1.
The city councils of Boulder and Longmont heard presentations in August, while Lafayette, Erie, and Louisville are scheduled to hear consultant reports this month. Adams County spent August collecting feedback from citizens and plans to have an update Tuesday at its next study session for the board, according to county officials.
The push for higher minimum wages appears to have a lot of public support, even from small businesses, though there鈥檚 much less agreement on how much to raise wages and how fast.
The high costs of housing, medical services, and living in Colorado are reasons for the support, but the impact on small businesses that could see large wage hikes starting in January is also a concern being debated in the communities surrounding Denver, which adopted its local wage five years ago.
For the five cities, which together hired consulting firm ECONorthwest to do an economic analysis, the interest was to get minimum wage in line with the higher rates in Denver, currently at $18.29, and unincorporated Boulder County, where hourly wages shot up to $15.69 this year.
鈥淭he recommendation was not that you have to do this but for every municipality to look at all the data and decide whether you think it鈥檚 appropriate to raise the minimum wage,鈥� said Andrew Dyke, a senior economist and partner at ECONorthwest. 鈥淎nd if you do this, our recommendation would be to attempt consistency across the region because that provides certainty and, you know, one of the things that business owners don鈥檛 like is uncertainty.鈥�
Getting to one regional wage, however, seems unlikely.
At the end of the Boulder City Council work session on Aug. 22, two possible proposals emerged for draft ordinances. Neither lined up exactly with Denver鈥檚 or Boulder County鈥檚.
As the city of Boulder considers adopting its own minimum wage, there was an effort to align regionally with other minimum wages already adopted by Denver and Boulder County. A slide presented by staff to Boulder City Council members during a work session on Aug. 22 showed six options. B1 and B2 represented two ways to align with Boulder County鈥檚 future minimum wage, while D1 and D2 for Denver鈥檚.
In the end, the council didn鈥檛 pick any of those and instead is considering other options. (Screenshot) The path forward also seemed unclear at the end of the on Aug. 27, where the discussion ended after the last person from the audience spoke.
鈥淲e want it done for Longmont. We don鈥檛 want to copy and paste Denver. We don鈥檛 want to copy and paste Boulder. We want what鈥檚 right for our economy,鈥� said Mike Root, founder of Copper Sky Distillery in town, who was nearly the last person to speak during the public comment period. 鈥淲e have a unique position to be able to stand up for what Longmont wants (and) don鈥檛 have to just do what the county tells us to do.鈥�
Sandi Seader, Longmont鈥檚 assistant city manager, said that, indeed, the council didn鈥檛 give any direction on next steps that evening. However, she added, the council could make a motion at any meeting.
While there鈥檚 no deadline to adopt its own minimum wage, state law requires the local government 鈥渆ngage stakeholders in public consultation,鈥� according to . But a new wage can only start when the state鈥檚 new rate starts, or on Jan. 1 of any given year, so if not 2025, then a new wage would start in January 2026.
Overall though, there seemed to be agreement among local residents, council members and the communities that the local minimum wage needs to rise.
鈥淲hat I hear from so many in our community, including a lot of business owners, too, is that we all pay when workers aren鈥檛 paid enough. Workers are harmed, and so are we. We pay in rising numbers of evictions and homelessness (and) people needing financial assistance. More pollution and traffic from people driving longer distances to get to work,鈥� Nicole Speer, Boulder鈥檚 Mayor Pro Tem, said during the work session. 鈥淎 couple of years ago, it took two full-time jobs to make ends meet here. Now it takes four. 鈥� Denver鈥檚 cost of living is 20% lower than ours (but) their wage is already almost 30% higher than ours.鈥�
Local minimum wage history
Local governments in Colorado were allowed to enact their own minimum wage after passed in 2019. Some restrictions were added, such as up to 33 cities or counties, or 10% of the state鈥檚 332 local governments, could adopt a local minimum wage. Annual increases could be no greater than 15% or $1.75 a year.
The Colorado Municipal League, which advocates for local governments, supported the 2019 change. But Kevin Bommer, CML鈥檚 executive director, said their support behind the bill was to 鈥済et in the room to help negotiate some guardrails,鈥� he said. One thing CML got into the bill was to allow regional agreements, which is what the with last year.
鈥淲e agreed with the business community that, as much as I hate it when people use it, you could have a patchwork of different minimum wages with employees working for employers in multiple (cities),鈥� he said. The idea, he added, was for 鈥渋ntergovernmental agreements to harmonize local minimum wages across the region and go beyond county lines.鈥�
Denver was the first city to adopt its own, raising its hourly minimum to $12.85 in 2020, while the state went to $12. Today, Denver鈥檚 minimum is $18.29, compared with the state鈥檚 $14.42. Both are pegged to changes in annual inflation, or the Consumer Price Index, so Denver鈥檚 rate will increase to $18.81 while Colorado鈥檚 grows to $14.81 on Jan. 1.
This year, two more local governments added their own minimum after opting in last year. Unincorporated Boulder County, which had joined the regional effort but then passed its own increase ahead of everybody else, will see its wage move to $16.57 in January.
Edgewater jumped to $15.02 this year and will increase to $16.52 next year.
The impact of higher wages
Four years after Denver adopted a higher minimum, it鈥檚 challenging to find good data on the impact.
A state in 2023 found that as Denver鈥檚 minimum wage rose faster than the state鈥檚, some jobs were lost. But overall wages 鈥� not just for minimum wage earners 鈥� increased faster than in other cities. The report tried to isolate the negative economic effects of COVID-19, but data also lagged, so the report seems incomplete, capturing stats just through mid-2021.
ECONorthwest鈥檚 report relied on some of the state鈥檚 report but also used a variety of data sources, such as the U.S. Census and wage and job data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It also looked at nearly 1,000 responses to the regional poll about minimum wage.
Minimum wage earners also tend to be a small part of the overall labor force. Dyke estimated that 8% to 10% of workers in the Boulder region earn a minimum wage, which includes tipped workers who are paid $3.02 less per hour but can accept tips. Because they鈥檙e the lowest earners, their impact on state sales tax revenues or gross domestic product may always be negligible. So, it鈥檚 more than just looking at pure data, he said.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 see big effects,鈥� Dyke said. 鈥淎nd that鈥檚 where I think it鈥檚 important to look at both the cost and the benefits and take into account what stakeholders say.鈥�
Jeffrey Zax, a professor who tracks labor laws at the University of Colorado, believes that most workers, especially in Boulder, earn more than minimum wage. Due to the labor shortages a year after the pandemic struck and employers were desperate to find help, wages soared in Colorado and elsewhere.
鈥淎s an economist, I am generally very negatively disposed toward these kinds of policies. You鈥檙e interfering with the market,鈥� Zax said. 鈥淵ou have to have a good reason if you鈥檙e interfering, and a reason is not that people can鈥檛 afford to live here. That鈥檚 not an employer鈥檚 responsibility. It鈥檚 like asking an employer, 鈥楲ook, you鈥檝e got a worker who鈥檚 worth $15 an hour, but he can鈥檛 afford rent, so we want you to pay him $20.鈥� 鈥� If those regulations become binding, the employer is going to say, 鈥楲ook, I鈥檓 going to step 2 feet outside of Boulder city limits. I鈥檒l move my business there.鈥欌��
Meanwhile, in Denver, some of the city鈥檚 , several South Broadway retailers are and office buildings are . On the other hand, companies and restaurants are in the city. And Denver鈥檚 unemployment rate in July was 4.3%, , Grand Junction and Pueblo. A year ago, Denver鈥檚 rate was even lower and than Boulder and Fort Collins.
Raising the lowest wage does give a group of earners a little more money, where higher earners likely see little to no impact, said Ben Zipperer, a senior economist at the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute. The lowest earners include a disproportionate number of women and people of color.
鈥淚f we do not raise the minimum wage, those are the people that continue to face the consequences of wage inequality,鈥� Zipperer said. 鈥淲hen you raise the minimum wage, economic research does show that it reduces the number of people in poverty. That is both an important motivation and also an important consequence of a higher minimum wage.鈥�
Tamara Chuang is a reporter for The Colorado Sun. Her work frequently appears on at KUNC 91.5 FM and online at KUNC.org. Contact Tamara at tamara@coloradosun.com.