Aurora Minimum Wage Increase Fails to Advance; HHAC Lobbied Against Increase Without Medicaid Reimbursement Boost
The Aurora City Council did not advance a proposal to increase its minimum wage modestly over the next two years but ultimately to a statewide high of $20 by 2027. Thank you to members of our association who reached out to council members to argue against the measure without higher reimbursement from Medicaid to cover the increases.
The proposal ultimately failed after weeks of public debate and 90 minutes of council discussion. However, it’s not over. The sponsor, Aurora Councilwoman Alison Coombs, plans to adjust the proposal to more closely mirror Denver’s ordinance. That law requires employers to bump hourly employees to at least $12.85 on Jan. 1, with the second raise to $14.77 in 2021, and a third to $15.87 in 2022. Subsequent to the law’s passage, the General Assembly approved a $3-an-hour increase to Medicaid reimbursement rates in Denver. But the state’s budget, always under strain, is especially strained because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and future increased Medicaid reimbursements are not guaranteed.
HHAC’s team lobbied against Aurora’s proposal without reimbursement increases, sent a letter to the council, and wrote public comments questioning the ordinance’s unintended consequences. The Denver Business Journal cited HHAC’s opposition in a story recounting Aurora’s decision: “Council members received rejection pleas from the Home Care and Hospice Association of Colorado, which represents home-health-care agencies paid largely by Medicaid and warned of likely service cuts if their labor costs rose without Medicaid increasing reimbursements.”
Aurora’s Coombs said her revised proposal would pause increases at $17 an hour.
If Aurora is unable to get the proposed increase passed by November 1, 2020, it cannot go into effect until January 1, 2022. Aurora’s adjusted proposal will come back to the council in the coming months. Coombs said she would make several amendments to her proposal, including pausing increases at $17 an hour.
HHAC will continue to monitor any actions by the council, but we can’t do it without your help. If you’re not a member, please join our association, now in its 50th year. If you’re a member, become more active in one of our councils and register for our virtual conference next month, at which minimum wage will be discussed along with other labor and regulatory issues, Electronic Visit Verification, telehealth, and more.
Original Aurora Minimum-Wage Proposal
- January 1, 2021: $12.60
- January 1, 2022: $13.23
- January 1, 2023: $14.55
- January 1, 2024: $16.00
- January 1, 2025, $17.60
- January 1, 2026: 19.36
- January 1, 2027: $20.00
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