"I don't think the city's ever paid what they call holiday pay," City Manager Richard Rose said Monday. "Right now, we have about $7,000 in the bank and we're just trying to do the best we can."
Rose, who became city manager in July, said the city had been borrowing $600,000 each November to make ends meet until property tax money arrives in January. That won't be necessary this year, he said, because the city is doing better financially. But D'Iberville still doesn't have money for holiday pay.
The federal Fair Labor Standards Act does not require extra pay for work on holidays, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
Rose said the city did give all employees, including firefighters, a 3 percent raise in October, the first employee pay increase in several years.
The city also budgeted three additional firefighter positions to be filled this spring.
D'Iberville has one fire station. The couple who called Sound Off said four firefighters were working Christmas Day when they stopped by the station. Rose said a fifth firefighter got the day off because he had worked several Christmases in a row, but the chief and assistant chief were on call.
Rose said additional firefighters will help the city to get a better fire rating, which should help lower homeowner insurance costs.
The Sound Off
"I am a resident in the city of D'Iberville, and on Christmas Day I saw the Fire Department driving down the road obviously going to a call. My wife said that later we should go by the fire station and tell the guys how much we appreciate what they do... So later in the day, we were going back home from spending time with our own family, we stopped in the fire house. After some discussion I had brought up that at least the holiday pay would help pay for their children's Christmas, at which point they told me that they received no holiday pay... My wife and I think that this is an outrage... Another point of concern of mine is that there was only four firemen at the station... I would think that since 9/11 that we would have a little more compassion for the brave men and women that strive to keep us safe."
