Boulder City Council is weighing whether to slow the pace of wage increases for tipped workers, as officials try to balance pressure from restaurants with concerns about some of the city’s lowest-paid workers.
Under current policy, when the city raises the minimum wage, tipped workers’ base pay goes up by the same amount.
On April 2, council voted to consider whether to keep that approach or change it, advancing four options, including three that would widen the gap between the city’s tipped and standard minimum wage.
Those three alternatives would mean restaurant workers who rely on tips would get smaller raises in their hourly pay, even as the city’s overall minimum wage goes up. Supporters say the change would ease labor costs for restaurants facing rising expenses. Opponents say it would mean workers have to rely more on tips and would see slower pay increases.
The options will go through a community engagement process this spring, followed by a public hearing and a city council vote later this year.
Like the council’s 2024 decision to raise the minimum wage by 8%, rather than leaving it at the lower state level or raising it to the maximum 15%, the issue is expected to be contentious and was a factor in the 2025 city council election. It also highlights a core challenge in Boulder: Costs are high for both restaurants trying to stay open and workers trying to afford to live here.
In Colorado, tipped workers’ base wage can be less than the standard minimum wage because of a policy known as the tip offset. That gap is currently $3.02, meaning employers can pay tipped workers $3.02 less per hour before tips.
Under a new state law, cities like Boulder can increase that gap if their local minimum wage is higher than the state’s. That allows the city to raise the overall minimum wage without requiring the same increase for tipped workers, potentially reducing the impact on restaurants while still requiring employers to ensure workers earn at least the full minimum wage if tips fall short.
Concern about restaurants was a key reason council did not raise Boulder’s minimum wage to the highest level recommended in 2024.
Boulder’s minimum wage is currently $16.82 and is set to increase by 8% next year to $18.17, then rise with inflation. The tipped minimum wage, now $13.80, is scheduled to increase at the same pace unless council changes the policy.
Council advanced four options:
- Keep the current tip offset.
- Increase the tip offset at the same rate as the minimum wage.
- Freeze the tipped minimum wage through 2029, then increase the offset at the same rate as the minimum wage.
- Set the tip offset at 20% of the minimum wage, up from about 18% today.
Council did not move forward with the most aggressive option, which would have raised the gap as much as allowed and resulted in a pay cut for tipped workers.
Several councilmembers said they wanted staff to study multiple options.
Five councilmembers supported keeping the current policy, the option backed by labor groups: Taishya Adams, Tina Marquis, Ryan Schuhard, Nicole Speer and Mayor Aaron Brockett.
Six expressed support for allowing tipped workers’ base pay to rise more slowly as the minimum wage increases: Matt Benjamin, Rob Kaplan, Marquis, Mark Wallach, Tara Winer and Brockett. Most of those councilmembers also supported the other options to widen the gap further. The vote was not formal. It was a straw poll meant to guide staff on which options to study.
“I don’t want to see our local restaurants replaced by national chains,” Kaplan said. “I think that if we give our restaurants a little bit of breathing room, they can actually put more money into the restaurants, creating more vibrant places, potentially hiring more workers, having more hours.”
Some councilmembers who supported widening the gap framed the options as a compromise between helping restaurants and protecting workers. Councilmember Nicole Speer disagreed. “To me, the compromise happened in 2024, when we chose to move forward with much lower wages than the consultants recommended … all to make sure that tipped wages increased at a pace that wouldn’t have such a big impact on the restaurants,” she said.
Some workers also pushed back on that idea during public comment.
Former city council candidate and barista Rachel Rose Isaacson was among those who spoke in favor of maintaining the current tip offset.
She pointed to a recent post from a councilmember that cited a survey of Boulder restaurants showing tipped employees earn approximately $40 per hour in total compensation, about $72,000 a year.
“I wish,” Isaacson said. “The real lived experience of tipped workers is not as glamorous as you’re imagining, not even close. This is the real picture of our lives: Tipped workers are often working two to three jobs, living paycheck to paycheck, just to cover monthly payments and basic necessities.”
