Santa Claus is Coming to Town

This week we continued our Budget Workshop series by reviewing the Capital Budget and identifying the priorities for the upcoming year. There were a total of $11.3M in projects that were suggested, with about half of that money coming from existing capital funds, and the balance coming from new capital, grants, open space fund and the operating budget. The biggest projects anticipated to be addressed in 2011 are:

• Village Hall renovation
• Resurfacing about 10 streets
• Improvements to the Crest Drive Firehouse
• Planning for the Baird renovations
• Open Space Acquisitions
• Next phase of the River Corridor project

Another topic discussed was the Holiday Schedule for Village employees in 2011. After doing a comparison of current holidays in the Village, it is apparent that the Village is quite out of line with other organizations. For example, most corporations provide 7 holidays to employees, typically:

• New Year’s Day
• Memorial Day
• Independence Day
• Labor Day
• Thanksgiving Day
• Day After Thanksgiving
• Christmas Day

The Federal Government adds the following for their employees:

• Martin Luther King's Birthday
• President's Day
• Columbus Day
• Veterans Day

and eliminates the Day After Thanksgiving for a total of 10 holidays.

South Orange, further adds:

• Lincoln's Birthday
• Good Friday
• Election Day
• Christmas Eve
• the Day After Thanksgiving

for a total of 15 holidays annually, in addition to 4-5 weeks of paid vacation! In this day and age of cost cutting, downsizing and increasing efficiency, it seems quite excessive to provide the equivalent of two full months of paid time off each year.

I'd love to hear how many holidays YOU get in YOUR job.