City Of Northport Tables Vote On Juneteenth Holiday, Citing Budget Concerns

NORTHPORT, AL — The Northport City Council on Monday opted to table a vote on formally acknowledging the Juneteenth holiday later this month, as some city leaders cited budgetary concerns for the current fiscal year.

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District 1 Councilwoman Christy Bobo and District 3 Councilman John Hinton — both representatives of the Administrative Committee — spoke out in favor of additional due diligence with respect to budgeting for holiday pay with such a short time window. The Juneteenth holiday, which is the largest and old commemoration of the end of slavery in the United States, is typically observed on June 19.

Juneteenth became a federal holiday in 2021.

The full Council, during its regular meeting Monday night, voted unanimously to table the measure and send it back to the Council's Administrative and Finance committees for additional consideration on Sept. 19, prior to the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1.

During a special called meeting of the City Council's Administrative Committee on Monday, Hinton detailed a long list of recent measures relating to employee pay that have already put the City of Northport in a competitive position as an employer. However, those step raises, Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) raises and others, have not come without some impact to city coffers.

Indeed, Hinton mentioned that the implementation of a new employee holiday would cost the city roughly $250,000 — funds that were not budgeted for during the current fiscal year.

This would come, he points out, as the city has already budgeted $7.5 million annually for employee salaries and benefits. Of that total, $3.5 million annually is budgeted solely for employee salaries.

"The Juneteenth holiday is supported by our committee, but the problem is the budget," Hinton told Patch on Monday. "This year, the budget does not have that item on it, we hadn't planned for it. It's not an emergency situation, so it makes sense to us to wait until next year — 2023 — to move forward with this. It gives us time to plan it accurately and accordingly as we need to."

Discussion also touched on the possibility of "floating holidays" as an alternative— a tactic viewed as cumbersome by city officials, but one that would allow for employees to choose their own individual paid "wild card" holiday each year. This would present obvious challenges to staffing and scheduling, though, as officials cited the need for advanced scheduling notice for employees to ensure that city services run at the minimum.

District 4 Councilwoman Jamie Dykes, despite voting in favor of tabling the measure, was the primary voice in support of amending the budget to adopt Juneteenth as an employee holiday for the current fiscal year.

The failed measure to have the Juneteenth holiday during the current fiscal year, Dykes said, would have added even more incentives for current employees, in addition to positive impacts on recruitment and retention.

"I feel very strongly that it's a state holiday, the City of Tuscaloosa is taking it and the University of Alabama is taking it," she said. "So we should definitely follow in line, and I feel like we could have amended a budget. I know we've done a lot for our employees, but that doesn't mean it stops it ... This is about keeping our employees here."

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