Juneteenth to Be a Local Holiday

Broward County – Broward County Commissioners are considering designating June 19th, also known as Juneteenth, an official paid holiday.

Although President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation had officially outlawed slavery in 1863, Juneteenth celebrates the official end of slavery that took place in Texas on June 19, 1865.

Commissioner Dale V.C. Holness, brought this idea the Commission stating, “I think this is a gesture that would go far to help in healing those deep wounds that still exist in our society. We’ve celebrated Juneteenth on a small scale here in Broward County. Many other communities across the nation are now officially celebrating the end of enslaved African people on Juneteenth.”

According to Holness, the reasoning behind this proposal was because, “from at least 1619 until 1861, enslaved Africans labored and toiled to build this Country, with whips on their backs and chains on their necks and their legs. Plus, the lives that were lost. How many trillions of dollars did that contribute to the building of this Country? You can’t calculate that. This is already in our budget. We’re talking about $130,000 more for overtime out of a $5.3 billion budget.”

Other states including New York, Virginia, New Jersey, and Massachusetts recently declared Juneteenth an official state holiday and approved June 19th as an official paid holiday. Three states that have not legally recognized Juneteenth as either a state or ceremonial holiday are Hawaii, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

National companies are also committing to recognize Juneteenth as a paid company holiday. These companies include Best Buy, J.C. Penney, Uber, Lyft, the NFL, Nike, Postmates, Spotify, Twitter, and Square.

In terms of budgeting, according to the Sun Sentinel, the Broward Office of Management and Budget estimated that the total cost of salaries for county employees for one day’s paid holiday is $1.3 million. Overtime pay for essential services at the airport, port, water and wastewater as well as the transit that must remain operational every day is $130,000 based on a past holiday.

Commissioners have advised the county attorney to draft a resolution for further discussion and vote at a future date.