Rhinebeck trustees debate reducing vacation accrual cap, seek data before changes

Village trustees spent an extended portion of the meeting discussing employee vacation accruals, buyouts and potential policy changes.

Speaker 4 summarized the current system: employees may bank up to two years of allotted vacation, meaning long‑service employees can accumulate as much as 64 days; the board cited an example of potential liability, saying that if someone earning about $35 an hour had maximum accrued time, the village could face an $18,000 payout. Board members debated options including reducing the cap (suggestions ranged from four weeks to 20–25 days), limiting how much an employee can buy out in any single year, and a tiered transition that would protect employees who have already accrued under prior rules.

Trustees asked staff to assemble a chart showing current accruals and the budget impact, and to model staged approaches and buyout limits so the board can consider concrete proposals at a future meeting. No formal policy change was voted at this meeting; members emphasized the need for clear transition language and to avoid penalizing employees who followed existing rules.