Question 1: What does the city spend on paid time off?

 

If every city employee were to use all the sick time and vacation time they’ve accrued over the years, it would cost the city $378 million in salary for all that paid time off. That’s not money that’s actually been spent, but if the staff hypothetically used all their time off, that’s what it would cost.

 

The average employee has 19 vacation days and 35 sick days saved up. But it’s not spread out so evenly.

 

There’s an assistant police chief who has 433 sick days saved up plus some vacation time. He makes just over $100 an hour, so the city would spend over $386,000 paying him salary if he actually used all those days off.

 

 

Question 2: It sounds like there’s so many days off they might not all get used. But how else will taxpayers be affected?

 

City employees get paid for 30 days of their unused vacation time once they leave or retire.

 

They can’t get cash for their sick days, but they can use them to increase their monthly pension. The pensions are calculated based on how many years you worked for the city, and unused sick time counts as time worked.

 

Salaries also go up over time. If an employee earns a vacation day but doesn’t use it until 10 years later, it’s going to cost the city more money than it would have initially.

 

 

Question 3: What’s the most amount of time off one employee can have saved up?

 

Everyone gets 12 sick days per year and can save up an unlimited amount. 

 

Employees also get 13 to 23 vacation days per year and can save up 50 vacation days. Some emergency workers can save up 65.

 

But there’s 76 firefighters that have more than 65 vacation days saved up. That’s only allowed with special permission from the city manager.

 

City workers can also get bonus time off for working overtime or on federal holidays.

 

 

Question 4: Is this system normal for Texas? What’s it like in other cities?

 

Austin’s system is a bit less generous than in some other Texas cities. In San Antonio and Dallas, employees can get paid for 50 unused days when they retire, not 30 like in Austin.

 

Austin employees have more sick days saved up than most other cities we’ve investigated, but less vacation time. 

 

Austin has 35 sick days saved up on average. In Las Vegas, the average last year was only about 20 and there’s a cap on how much they can accumulate. 

 

But Baltimore and Vegas employees have more than double the amount of vacation time Austin employees have saved up.