Allison Coombs, Aurora City Councilwoman who’s famous for fighting with police during the June , has a new socialist goal up her sleeve for Aurora’s city council meeting tonight.
According to Aurora Mayor , Coombs gave no notice of her resolution and has left the Council in the dark as to her plans to force a $17/hour minimum wage for Aurora citizens.
As Coffman stresses, businesses were not consulted by Coombs, nor was the rest of the Council in a timely manner. While Aurora businesses struggle to pay their bills during COVID-19 mandates, Coombs aims to further financially strap those businesses, with wage increases planned this year. It’s no sweat off Coombs’ back; she doesn’t own a business.
In fact, Coombs’ trickle up economics, which largely resemble Obama’s socialist agenda, would represent a nail on the coffin for many struggling Aurora businesses. Coombs doesn’t care about those businesses, though; it’s all about the left’s agenda.
Coombs’ statement today on Facebook reads:
“Joint statement with Crystal Murillo, Juan Marcano, Aurora City Council Ward IV, and myself regarding the minimum wage proposal
“This Monday, Aurora has the chance to become a regional leader in improving the lives of working people by undertaking a reasonable schedule of increases to the minimum wage in our city. After an earlier proposal was rejected by a majority of council during a study session, community members, community organizations, and labor organizations demanded that we bring a revised proposal to guarantee a boost to workers struggling to survive during the pandemic.
“If passed, this proposal will benefit 30,000 Aurora workers in 2021, and will benefit 53,000 Aurora workers by 2025. A 5% increase in income this year will help address the fact that over 50% of our city’s residents spend more than 30% of their income on housing. Beyond that, the additional 5% in income for our lower wage workers will generate millions in additional spending in our local economy, giving a boost to businesses and city tax revenues. Increased incomes are also correlated to lower suicide rates and drug overdoses. This isn’t just a win for workers, it’s a win for everyone.
“The proposal will increase the minimum wage from the statewide 2021 increase of $12.32 per hour to $12.60 per hour, and will include 5-10% increases thereafter until the minimum wage reaches $17 per hour in 2025. We decided on $17 per hour as a substitute to $20 hour because it allows us to catch up with Denver’s minimum wage increases without surpassing them. This is important to ensuring that our businesses are not at a disadvantage when seeking employees, and that we are not making it harder for them to compete with Denver businesses.
“Additional changes include:
1) The addition of definitions related to enforcement, as requested by businesses during the stakeholder process;
2) Language directing the enforcement division to connect businesses to small business assistance resources, based on concerns that businesses may be unintentionally in violation and require technical assistance; and
3) a reduction in the size of the enforcement division to address concerns about costs incurred by the city for enforcement.
“We have said this proposal will be a win for our community, our economy and our working people; we continue to believe that’s true. When working people are thriving, they are able to meaningfully participate in and contribute to the success of our economy and our small businesses.
“We have heard our small businesses expressing concern about how this can compound already difficult conditions during the pandemic. That’s why the initial increases are only marginally higher than planned statewide increases. It’s also why we’ve continued to push for our city’s pandemic assistance programs to include funds for commercial leases and payroll. We are hopeful that continued direct support from the city and state will help our businesses weather the pandemic. We are also committed to continuing the push for ongoing business support programs, and are interested in hearing from small businesses about how we can improve other city processes and structures to help them thrive.
“We’re glad that the community pushed for this proposal to come back. Working people in our city cannot be expected to bear the brunt of this pandemic alone. Essential workers deserve essential pay. We will continue to push back against an economic system that harms thousands of people every day by imposing crushing poverty and restricting access to basic goods. We are grateful for our community and our colleagues who stand with us in that fight.”
So Coombs knows that businesses cannot absorb this wage increase, but she doesn’t care. As she states, “that’s why initial increases are only marginally higher than planned statewide increases.”
Thanks, Allison. Thank you for not aiming to raise wages more quickly or higher. Apparently we should all be thanking you for your thoughtless proposal.
