Special Meeting

July 30, 2026

Council declined to raise the tip credit for restaurant workers after two hours of public testimony, and backed a code change over a ballot measure for wildfire resilience on open space.

Council held a special meeting on July 30, 2026. Members approved a consent agenda and heard 28 public speakers on a proposed increase to the tipped-worker wage offset. Most speakers opposed the change. No council member moved the staff-recommended motion, so the existing minimum wage schedule stays in place for January 2027. Council supported forming a restaurant industry and worker task force. On the wildfire resilience open space item, council directed staff to pursue an ordinance instead of a ballot measure, and asked for an executive session for legal advice before drafting it.

Agenda and votes

Call to Order and Roll Call

1Call to Order and Roll Call
Roll call confirmed all eight council members present and a quorum.
passed 8-0 unofficialat 0:05:37
Amend the agenda to add item 4A, direction on the wildfire resilience on open space ballot measure.

Consent Agenda

2AConsideration of a motion to cancel the October 8, 2026 Study Session and replace it with a Community and Council Forum on Power Reliability and Resilience
Consent item to cancel the October 8, 2026 study session and replace it with a community and council forum on power reliability and resilience. Approved as part of the consent agenda.
2BIntroduction and consideration of a motion to order published by title only and adopt by emergency measure Ordinance 8767 adopting Supplement 167, which codifies previously adopted ordinances and other miscellaneous corrections and amendments, as amendments to the Boulder Revised Code, 1981; and setting forth related details
Consent item to adopt Ordinance 8767 by emergency measure, codifying Supplement 167 and miscellaneous corrections to the Boulder Revised Code. Approved as part of the consent agenda.
Agenda Memo Attachment A - Proposed 1st rdg Emergency Ordinance 8767 Supp 167

Public Hearings

3ASecond reading and consideration of a motion to amend and pass Ordinance 8754 amending Chapter 12-6, “Minimum Wage,” B.R.C. 1981, setting a local city of Boulder tip offset amount for food and beverage industry workers; and setting forth related details Staff Time: 20 Min Council Time: 220 Min
Second reading of Ordinance 8754, which would have set a local tip offset for restaurant workers. After staff presentation and 28 public speakers, no council member moved the motion, so it did not pass and the existing 2024 minimum wage schedule continues into 2027. Council agreed to pursue a restaurant industry and worker task force.
Agenda Memo Attachment A - Proposed Ordinance 8754 Attachment B - Offset_Options Attachment C - Tip Offset Community Engagement Results

Matters from the City Manager

4ADirection on the Wildfire Resilience on Open Space ballot measure
Council directed staff to pursue a code change (ordinance) rather than a ballot measure for wildfire resilience on open space, and asked for a noticed executive session for legal advice before the ordinance is drafted further.
Open Space wildfire code change

Discussion Items

Debrief

Other votes

passed 8-0 unofficialat 0:06:03

2 · Pass the consent agenda, items 2A (cancel October 8 study session for a power reliability forum) and 2B (adopt Ordinance 8767, codification supplement 167).

Adams: yesBenjamin: yesBrockett: yesKaplan: yesMarquis: yesSchuchard: yesSpeer: yesWiner: yes

Public comment

Keep the current minimum wage schedule; do not increase the tip offset · 20 speakers
The large majority of the 28 speakers, including restaurant and hotel workers, students, and labor organizers, asked council to leave the 2024 minimum wage schedule unchanged and not adopt any version of a higher tip offset, arguing it amounts to a pay cut for tipped workers in a high cost of living city.
Support a restaurant industry and worker task force instead of a tip offset change · 3 speakers
Representatives of the Downtown Boulder Partnership, Boulder Chamber of Commerce, and Colorado Restaurant Association asked council to form a joint task force of workers, owners, and experts to find broader relief for restaurants rather than changing the tip offset this year.
Critique of the city's data and survey methods · 1 speakers
An academic speaker argued the city's report and online calculator were framed to support a predetermined policy outcome and did not fairly represent survey results or account for other cost drivers like rent.
Alternative ways to help restaurants without cutting worker pay · 6 speakers
Several speakers suggested a commercial vacancy tax, caps on delivery app fees, or commercial rent relief as alternatives to changing wages for tipped workers.
Union organizing at Hotel Boulderado · 4 speakers
Several current and former Hotel Boulderado workers described an ongoing effort to unionize with Unite Here Local 23 under the hotel's new owner, AJ Capital, and connected that effort to the wage debate.

Conversations by topic

Minimum wage and restaurants

CityJul 30, Special Meeting at 0:07:20

Staff presented Ordinance 8754, which would set a local tip offset for food and beverage workers in 2027. Staff gave four options ranging from no change to freezing the base wage at $13.80 through 2028, and showed sales tax and job data suggesting the restaurant sector is flat or declining. A city survey of about 280 people found most restaurant workers and community members wanted no change, while most restaurant owners wanted a larger change.

CityJul 30, Special Meeting at 0:29:56

28 members of the public spoke during the public hearing on the tip offset. Most speakers, including many restaurant and hotel workers, labor organizers from the Boulder Area Labor Council and New Era Colorado, and CU Boulder students, urged council to keep the current minimum wage schedule and not increase the tip offset. Several linked the issue to a union organizing effort by Unite Here Local 23 at the Hotel Boulderado, now owned by AJ Capital.

“You were elected to serve all Boulderites, not just the wealthy few.”

CityJul 30, Special Meeting at 0:41:36

Assistant professor Rebecca Mitchell criticized the city's June 2026 report as a post hoc justification for a chosen policy. She said the report cherry-picked labor costs while ignoring rent, insurance, and other cost drivers, and that the online calculator visually framed a wage loss for tipped workers as a gain.

CityJul 30, Special Meeting at 0:57:14

Downtown Boulder Partnership CEO Tammy Door, Boulder Chamber policy director Jonathan Singer, and Colorado Restaurant Association staffer Jade Wood each asked council to form a restaurant industry and worker task force instead of relitigating the tip offset every year. Wood said 498 Colorado restaurants closed in 2025 and many now operate on margins near 1 percent.

CityJul 30, Special Meeting at 1:22:01

After public comment, council members Speer, Schuchard, Marquis, Brockett, Benjamin, Kaplan, Winer, Adams, and Brockett again each spoke against increasing the tip offset this year and in favor of keeping the 2024 minimum wage schedule as planned for January 2027. All backed forming a restaurant and worker task force to look at rent, fees, and other business costs instead.

“It is none of us. It is all of us or none of us.”

CityJul 30, Special Meeting at 1:48:39

No council member moved the staff-recommended motion to amend Ordinance 8754. The mayor noted this means no action was taken, so the existing minimum wage and tip offset schedule adopted in 2024 proceeds unchanged into 2027.

Wildfire and Xcel

CityJul 30, Special Meeting at 1:53:58

Deputy city manager Chris McHugh asked council to choose between a charter amendment ballot measure, a code change, or no action on wildfire resilience for open space land. The Open Space Board of Trustees recommended a charter amendment, but staff recommended a code change, citing timing and other factors in a confidential memo.

CityJul 30, Special Meeting at 1:56:07

Council reached agreement to pursue a code change (ordinance) rather than a ballot measure, given statutory deadlines that would apply to a 2026 ballot measure. Members then unanimously supported holding a noticed executive session to get confidential legal advice on the ordinance before it comes back to council.

CityJul 30, Special Meeting at 2:04:26

Council member Benjamin said the Open Space Board of Trustees voted to recommend a charter amendment without the same confidential legal advice council later received, and asked the city to give boards and council the same information at the same time going forward. Staff agreed to do better and said the ordinance, if it proceeds, will go back to the Open Space Board of Trustees for a new recommendation.

City budget and finances

CityJul 30, Special Meeting at 1:30:15

Mayor Brockett noted restaurants face several added cost pressures this year: another 8 percent minimum wage increase, a possible new property tax for early childhood care, and a transportation maintenance fee not yet being collected. He raised these as context for why the tip offset debate is happening now.

Public safety

CityJul 30, Special Meeting at 2:00:19

Council member Adams said she has been waiting seven months for a public safety update that council approved in January and was supposed to occur twice a year, citing it as an example of items getting delayed on the agenda.