Cutting Holiday Pay For Lake Co. Workers Will Save $1.8M: Report

LAKE COUNTY, IL – A savings of an estimated $1.8 million led Lake County commissioners to narrowly approve a measure Tuesday to have some county government employees furloughed for three upcoming holidays this fall rather than pay for a day off.

On an 11-10 vote that fell mostly along party lines, commissioners moved ahead with the plan, which will keep a portion of employees from being paid for days of on Labor Day, Thanksgiving and the day after Thanksgiving, the Daily Herald reported. All nine of the board’s Republican members voted against the proposal as did Waukegan Democrat Diane Hewitt, the only voting of her party to do so.

According to the report, the move was made to help offset millions of dollars in revenue loss due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The Daily Herald reported, however, that board members are uncertain of how many employees will actually be impacted by the move because union workers may not fit under the plan’s umbrella.

The current fiscal year ends on Nov. 30, which only left commissioners the three remaining days that typically would be paid holidays to work with. County administrator Gary Gibson told commissioners during Tuesday’s virtual meeting that employees who still need to work on the three days this fall will be paid at their regularly hourly rate rather than at bonus rates they would if they were to work the holiday.

The Daily Herald reported that commissioners acknowledged that the county have made nearly $18.5 million in cuts to deal with the revenue losses caused by the pandemic. Commissioner Paul Frank said Tuesday that in his role as the head of the board’s financial and administrative committee that at this point, ways to make up for the financial losses the county has taken this year. He said that some other options, including taking money out of the county's reserves, were not viable and would have consequences like damaging the county's bond rating.

The savings, Frank said, would help county officials to save 20 or 30 jobs, according to the newspaper report.

"We have very few levers that we can pull that don't hurt our people," Frank said.

He added: “This is a time when we require shared sacrifice.”