Veterans Day now a Dane County holiday, weeks after Indigenous People's Day added

Mar. 23—The addition last month of Indigenous People's Day as an official Dane County holiday has led to Veterans Day being added as a day off for county employees, too.

County supervisors voted unanimously Thursday night to make Nov. 11 an official holiday in honor of U.S. veterans. Talk of adding the second county holiday in less than two months emerged during a Feb. 1 meeting where the board voted nearly unanimously to make Indigenous People's Day a county holiday in honor of the culture and history of Native Americans.

But during the meeting, debate veered off the topic of Indigenous People's Day and into why U.S. veterans deserved to be honored as well. County employees do have off Memorial Day, which commemorates those in the military who died in the line of duty.

The vote on Thursday brings the number of county holidays to 10. Those include typical holidays such as Christmas and Thanksgiving as well as Juneteenth, which the county made a holiday in 2020.

The addition of the two new holidays will cost the county $80,100 each in additional overtime and holiday pay, according to county records.

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