Boulder County Commissioners are silent on minimum wage pause request

So far in 2025, the Boulder County Commissioners have been silent regarding whether to pause minimum wage increases, despite requests from the Niwot Business Association (NBA), the Niwot Local Improvement District Advisory Committee, and community members.

Gloria Handyside, Communications Director for the Boulder County Commissioners, stated in an email that there were no new developments regarding the commissioners' position on the minimum wage law. This response remains consistent with the Commissioner's statement to the Left Hand Valley Courier made in October 2024: "The board will not be amending the county's Local Minimum Wage Ordinance this year (2024)."

The official statement that Handyside included stated, "The Boulder County Commissioners unanimously passed the county's local minimum wage ordinance to respond to the needs of unincorporated Boulder County's lowest-paid workers in the face of the rising cost of living. The commissioners are motivated to support Boulder County residents to meet basic needs as well as maintain their dignity and quality of life, and believe that when our lowest paid workers thrive, we all thrive. The Boulder County Commissioners will continue to work with municipalities in our region in an effort to achieve the commissioners' goal of a regional minimum wage."

In the fall of 2023, the Boulder County Commissioners adopted a new hourly minimum wage that only impacted unincorporated Boulder County businesses, resulting in a disparity and economic disadvantage for unincorporated Boulder County businesses, including Niwot. At the time, none of Boulder County's municipalities had adopted a minimum wage higher than the state minimum wage. The City of Boulder adopted a local minimum wage increase late in 2024.

Unincorporated Boulder County businesses, including Niwot, local farmers, and small communities, now have a minimum wage 11.8% higher than surrounding incorporated Boulder County cities and towns and 6.5% higher than the City of Boulder.

In 2025, the minimum wage in Boulder County will vary from $16.57 per hour in unincorporated areas, to $15.57 per hour in the City of Boulder, and $14.81 per hour in incorporated cities which are subject to the Colorado state minimum wage. The 2030 minimum wage in unincorporated Boulder County, including Niwot, will be $25 per hour pursuant to current legislation while the minimum wage in Longmont will be $16.92 per hour.

The accompanying table, previously published in the Left Hand Valley Courier, has been updated to reflect the City of Boulder's adjusted minimum wage. Currently, the incorporated cities and towns, excluding the City of Boulder, follow Colorado's state minimum wage, which for 2025 is $14.81 per hour. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) adjustment for Colorado's state minimum wage was 2.7%. Currently, Colorado has the ninth-highest minimum wage in the country.

The Niwot Business Association, coalition members, and local small farmers of the Certified Organic Farmers Association (COFA) plan to meet with the Boulder County Commissioners in the hope that, at a minimum, it will pause unincorporated Boulder County's minimum wage ordinance until the larger cities and towns in incorporated Boulder County catch up.