BOULDER – The Boulder City Council issued the first permit Thursday evening for a plan to raise the minimum wage by 8% each year for the next three years, a less aggressive approach than some officials preferred.

The move — a unanimous first-reading approval that called for a second and final reading at a future meeting — came after several hours of public hearings in which several competing interests vied for the officials’ favor: workers, union organizers and community interest groups say , that hefty wage increases are necessary to make life possible in an increasingly expensive city, and business owners (with support from business groups like the Boulder Chamber) who argue that skyrocketing labor costs could force them to close.

Colorado’s current minimum wage in Boulder is $14.42. Boulder’s increases, whose final approval is essentially a formality after Thursday’s first-reading vote, would come in 2025, 2026 and 2027 and apply to workers of all ages. (City leaders had considered exempting non-exempt minors from pay increases.)

Unitarian Universalist Church pastor the Rev. David Schwartz said significant wage increases are needed because the current minimum wage “doesn’t come close” to enabling Boulder workers to meet their basic daily needs.

While “the concerns of our low-wage workers are absolutely something we share,” said Boulder Chamber CEO John Tayer, an increase that doesn’t comply with the state minimum wage is “the wrong tool.” It lacks the flexibility to respond Addressing the needs of Boulder businesses.

Not all business owners were against aggressive wage increases. “Paying people a livable wage is economic development,” said small business owner Lori Garcia.

In late 2023, the Boulder County Board of County Commissioners voted unanimously in favor of it for an aggressive approach raised its minimum wage, increasing it to $15.69 in 2024, with plans to increase it gradually each year until it reaches $25 in 2030.

That move — which made Boulder County the first government in the region to take advantage of House Bill 19-1210, the law that allows local cities and counties to raise their minimum wages above the state mandate — applied only to workers in unincorporated portions of the county region, including those in Gunbarrel and Niwot. Other local government agencies in the county are following a similar process to Boulder to raise the minimum wage within their respective municipal boundaries.

Four Boulder City Council members — one short of a majority — supported a more aggressive wage increase system, championed by Councilmember Lauren Folkerts, that would have provided a 15% increase in 2025 and subsequent 8.5% increases over the next two years.

The plan to increase wages by 8% each of the next three years is “an insult” to minimum wage earners, Folkerts said, and provides an excuse that allows Boulder leaders to demand support for city workers. without taking the meaningful action.” The community is clearly asking for it.”

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