City seeks to bring holidays in line with state statute

The Gilich administration is proposing the city reduce its number of municipal holidays to 10 a year from the current lineup of 12, bringing the city in line with state statute.

The measure is one of more than two dozen issues on the council agenda for Tuesday at 1:30 p.m.

The proposed amendment to the ordinance on city holidays, which would be voted on at a subsequent council meeting, would eliminate the Friday after Thanksgiving, typically referred to as “Black Friday” in Christmas shopping circles, and it would remove Dec. 24, Christmas Eve, from the lineup of city holidays.

A typical city holiday, which generates holiday or overtime pay primarily in the Police and Fire departments, costs taxpayers about $125,000  a day.

The proposed ordinance also notes that the City Council would have the right to add any one-time discretionary holidays the governor may decree during the year. Governors have occasionally granted the authority for local leaders to add a one-time holiday when an existing holiday falls on a Tuesday or Thursday, creating an extended weekend. 

The remaining holidays would be:

– New Year’s Day

– Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day

– Mardi Gras Day

– Memorial Day

– Fourth of July

– Labor Day

– Good Friday

– Veterans Day

– Thanksgiving Day

– Christmas Day