Commissioner Marta Loachamin regarding the upcoming small business grant program and minimum wage

Boulder County's Small Business Grant/Changing Economic Environment Program, spearheaded by Commissioner Marta Loachamin, is accepting applications for grant funding to support unincorporated Boulder County small businesses impacted by the costs (including labor costs) of doing business in the County's rapidly changing economic environment. The last day to apply is April 19, 2024, at 5 p.m.at https://coloradoenterprisefund.org/Boulder-County-SB-Grant. Grants of up to $5,000 per business will be awarded from the $225,000 earmarked for the program.

The grant program was created in response to the recent minimum wage increase, which started Jan. 1, 2024, which impacts unincorporated towns, communities, and outlying areas while excluding incorporated cities or towns. Ordinance 2023-4 became effective Jan. 1, 2024, with a $15.69 per hour minimum wage, which is 15% above Colorado's 2023 minimum wage and $1.27 per hour higher than surrounding incorporated towns and cities.

Loachamin started looking at grant money using the experience she gained managing the Covid-19 $63 million fund for Boulder County during the pandemic. This experience taught her that lack of access was a key issue with constituents, as many individuals did not have relationships with bankers.

When asked if the grant was unique to Boulder County, she said, "Yes, and it is specific to minimum wage." She stated that Boulder County desired to provide and support small businesses to alleviate operating costs, including wages.

She said, "It is my belief that small-business owners want their employees to have livable wages and want their employees to be able to buy food and pay rent." While gathering information, she met with consultants in other parts of the country where the minimum wage was increased. She discovered that businesses came together with innovative solutions, such as sharing payroll systems to offset costs.

Her outreach to the unincorporated areas included meeting with the Niwot Community Association and the Niwot Business Association the last week of March, and a recent postcard mailer.

For-profit or nonprofit businesses grant eligibility requires that the entities are headquartered and are operating their primary business in the qualifying area, were in existence before Dec. 31, 2023, hold an active sales or tax license at the time of application, and have at least three and less than 15 W-2 employees, with at least one of those employees having made less than $19/hour in 2023 and in 2024. Non-eligible entities include marijuana businesses, clubs and homeowner associations (HOAs), commercial banks, and governmental entities. Partnerships, sole proprietors and single-member LLCs without W-2 employees, and businesses employing more than 15 employees are also ineligible.

Regarding how the Commissioners came to the decision to increase the minimum wage, she said, "It has been a long process. The conversations came to the Commissioners from the Consortium of Cities in 2019 before me, but then Covid hit, and everything was put on hold until 2021 when my term started as a commissioner." Shortly thereafter, the Consortium of Cities reopened discussions with the Commissioners to set a floor for the minimum wage.

She said, "During the pandemic, Covid had created an inhospitable climate where employers were paying minimum wages of $15 per hour or more and could not find employees, it was a crazy time." In 2022,  Commissioner Levy took the minimum wage discussion outside the consortium as all cities were on board and planned to move forward. But the cities ultimately postponed any increase in the minimum wage, leaving Niwot and other unincorporated Boulder County businesses with a minimum wage significantly higher than cities in the county.

One decision the Commissioners made was not to include the 15% reduction for unemancipated minors allowed by State bill HB-1210. State bill HB-1210 allowed local governments to raise the minimum wage to 15% per year above their previous year's minimum wage.

Loachamin said, "Our evaluation focused on the worth of an hour of work and we did not feel it was our job to define how to apply it based on age." At her last meeting with the Niwot Business Association, she mentioned that the business owners asked the Commissioners to put the ordinance on hold until the Consortium of Cities finished its review and that the Commissioners consider adopting the 15% reduction for unemancipated minors. This would require modifying the existing ordinance.

Loachamin said that the commissioners have been responsive to the workers. She said, "As a society, we talk about essential workers in the service, construction, and other industry sectors that make the United States function. We have thoughtfully considered the worker's needs while supporting small businesses."