MONEY TALKS THE ANDERSON FILES

Boulder County wants to raise the minimum wage — but all its cities have to get on board

BY DAVE ANDERSON

Denver went first. In 2020 — a year after the Colorado Legislature passed HB 19-1210, allowing municipalities to set a higher minimum wage than the state — the capital city gradually raised its base pay by nearly $4 an hour to the current $17.29.

Then nothing for three years.

Finally, this year, the City of Edgewater — 5,000 residents west of Denver — decided to take advantage of the amendment, doubling its mini- mum wage over five years beginning in 2024.

And that’s it: Only Denver and Edgewater have raised pay above the state’s current $13.65 an hour (which is, thankfully, a far cry from the paltry $7.25 mandated at the federal level since 2009). But how about Boulder County? For decades, rightwingers have been all hot and bothered about how horribly progressive we are.

The Boulder County Commissioners supported HB 19-1210, but that’s about all they could do. Because the legislation requires local governments to consult with surrounding jurisdictions and stakeholders before enacting a new minimum salary, the county would only be able to raise wages unilaterally for unincorporated areas. So the commissioners have started a formal process to enact a countywide minimum wage. This year, councils across the county have heard presentations from the Consortium of Cities (leadership from each muni in the county), local chambers of commerce and the Boulder Area Labor Council about the possibility.

“If anybody’s going to do this and make it work — any municipality — it’s going to have to be in concert with other municipalities,” Longmont council member Tim Waters said at a June 6 meeting. “There’s no way this works without it being a regional approach.”