Denver City Council will vote Monday evening on a proposal to increase a citywide minimum wage this January.  

In advance of implementing the nearly $16 wage, council members will hold a one-hour courtesy public hearing on the bill.

Council members are expected to pass the measure, sponsored by Mayor Michael Hancock and Councilwoman At-Large Robin Kniech, which will position Denver as the first Colorado municipality to raise its own minimum wage.

About 50,000 Denverites will benefit from the wage hike in 2020, and 90,000 workers will receive a raise by 2022, according to the proposal. Nearly two-thirds of them are people of color, and more than half of are women.

“Denver is leading the way to higher wages and a more inclusive and equitable economy,” Hancock said in an earlier statement. “A raise for Denver’s workers would mean families can better support themselves and better afford the city that they helped build.”

The path was paved in May when the state legislature passed a Democrat-backed bill allowing local governments to set their own minimum wages, as long as it exceeds the state minimum wage of $11.10 per hour.

The first “catchup step” of Denver’s new minimum wage ordinance is 95 cents lower than the amount initially proposed, symbolic of a compromise with small business owners, who expressed their disapproval of the measure during a series of town halls.

The revised proposal now requires Denver employers to pay hourly employees $12.85 beginning New Year’s Day. Come 2021, wages will increase to $14.77 and again to $15.87 at the start of 2022.

Other changes in the newly revised measure include a differential wage for minors. Employers can opt-in to pay 15% below citywide wage to minors if they meet two criteria: developing a curriculum to develop the minor’s skills and competencies, and incorporating training and development “above and beyond” the job itself.

Another tweak to the legislation was extending from two to three years the period that wages owed to workers can be held by the Unclaimed Minimum Wage Special Trust Fund, which would be created in a companion ordinance.

That bill also will be voted upon tonight during the council meeting.