Longmont City Council convened a public “fishbowl” conversation on minimum wage on Oct. 5, 2025, inviting workers, nonprofit staff and local business owners to speak directly with council members about proposed local changes to the wage floor.

City budget analyst Sarah Delvay presented the data packet council members requested, saying the analysis produced "three main takeaways": which occupation groups would be most affected by higher wages, how those groups compose the workforce, and how household eligibility for public benefits could change. The analysis showed food‑preparation and serving, retail sales, office and administrative support, production, and transportation and material moving as the five occupation groups most likely to be affected at higher local wage levels, and it compared scenarios ranging from the state minimum of $14.81 to $25 an hour and an intermediate Boulder‑area figure of $16.57.

The council heard repeated, paired concerns from speakers: higher wages could lift incomes, but increases also can push households over eligibility thresholds for benefits such as Medicaid, SNAP and other programs. "When they start making more money, a lot of times ... they all lose a benefit," said Leo Olivares, seniors resource specialist with the Longmont Housing Authority, describing how modest income gains can remove critical supports. Sarah Delvay noted the staff table in the packet marks which benefits a full‑time worker in a given household would lose at each wage scenario.

Child care and housing surfaced repeatedly as immediate drivers of hardship. Claudia Orona, a youth program specialist with the city, said families she serves often work multiple jobs or double up households so children will be cared for, and that "they have to be more, like, having two jobs" to make ends meet. Amy May of Treehouse Learning described the high training and licensing costs for early‑childhood educators and said at her center "our lowest paying staff member is a kitchen assistant, makes 20 an hour, and our ... child‑facing lowest paid staff member makes 21."

Business owners described how rising costs from many sources — rent, insurance, utilities, food and other inputs — combine with wage increases to squeeze small operations. Sarah Morgan, owner of Martini's Bistro, said her "base level minimum wage employee is averaging $22 an hour already" under her pay and pooled‑tip structure and warned that continuing cost pressures have left her business operating with thin margins. Nick Hoover of the Colorado Restaurant Association presented a sample restaurant P&L and said the firm "has only been able to raise their menu prices by 15%" while still losing customers, leaving many small restaurants operating at a loss.

Owners and nonprofit directors also described labor and recruitment challenges, the risk of wage compression (where raises at the bottom force higher raises up the pay scale), and possible operational responses: reducing entry‑level hiring, pushing more work to contractors or delivery platforms, increasing prices, or modifying service. Several downtown owners described permitting delays and lease pressure as additional barriers to small‑business viability.

Council members and staff repeatedly distinguished discussion items from formal decisions. The council asked for the fishbowl after declining in 2024 to raise the local minimum wage, a staff member said; no ordinance or wage change was proposed or adopted at the session. Instead, the council asked the public and businesses to submit concrete data — including the “breaking point” dollar amounts at which businesses would change operations or close — and directed staff to forward the meeting record and community input for further consideration.

Speakers urged parallel policy efforts. Several asked the council to press federal and state representatives to raise income cutoffs for programs such as the Medicare savings program and SNAP, which participants said accelerate the benefits cliff. Others urged more city action to expand affordable housing, accelerate childcare subsidies or streamline permitting and business support to reduce non‑wage costs.

The conversation combined statistical analysis with personal testimony: staff data framed the likely groups affected; nonprofit and human‑services speakers described how modest income gains can remove supports; childcare providers outlined the training and wage realities of their sector; and business owners described current losses, staffing shortages and a litany of escalating operating costs. Council members closed by asking for follow‑up submissions from businesses about specific wage thresholds and for staff to make the recorded session and materials available online.

The council took no legislative action at the meeting. It used the session to gather viewpoints and directed staff to compile public input, data and the business submissions for future council consideration.