The Coloradoan reports the Fort Collins City Council will decide whether to fund an analysis process that will determine how a higher minimum wage could impact NoCo residents and businesses this November.

In a memo to the council, Economic Health Director Josh Birks wrote that this process would cost between $85,000 and $110,000 and take at least nine months to finish.

If funding is approved, a consultant would be hired to begin research on the local labor market and demographics in the form of focus groups, surveys, etc., ending with a Spring 2020 proposal for council review.

Council member Ross Cunniff pointed out that while Colorado's minimum wage is significantly higher than most of the country, which hovers at $7.25, our rising cost-of-living is not sufficiently reflected in the $11.10 minimum wage currently in place.

A new law allows municipalities will be able to set their own minimum wages starting in 2020 by fifteen percent or $1.75 an hour, whichever is higher, each year.

According to this Economic Policy Institute analysis, the federal minimum wage would be over $20 as of 2019 if it had kept up with inflation and how much workers produce per hour.

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