<<Home Niagara Falls Reporter Archive>>

A Niagara Falls Fairy Tale

By Moose, Jr.

Teacher says that every time a birthday candle is blown out anywhere in the world, a Niagara Falls city employee gets his birthday paid for.
"Happy Birthday to You", a song traditionally sung to celebrate the anniversary of a person's birth, is the most recognized song in the English language, according to the 1998 Guinness Book of World Records.
The song was published by
American siblings Patty Hill and Mildred J. Hill in 1893.
Taxpayers are pleased to go to work on their birthdays in order to pay for city employees’ paid days off for their birthdays.
Shouldn't the city provide candles too?
The poet Rod McKuen wrote poems about birthdays, including "Happy Birthday to Me." The poem ends with "And I know that if you keep the empty heart alive a little longer love will come. It always does, maybe just at the last minute but it will come. You must believe that or else there isn't any reason to have birthdays." ... .

Each year every living human being has a birthday or, more accurately, an anniversary of the day that they were born.

For some, the day is welcomed with great fanfare and huge celebration. Others prefer to keep it a low-key affair - a shadowy reminder of the passage of time.

The City of Niagara Falls prefers to celebrate the birthdays of its employees in a very special way- they get the day off with pay!

The privilege of not having to work is paid for by the taxpayers and property owners of Niagara Falls.

These are your tax dollars at work or, should I say, not at work.

This benefit allows government workers to celebrate their special day at a time when Niagara Falls is going broke.

If employees should be inclined to take the day off, they should take a personal day like everybody else does and just be thankful they have a job.

With over 500 city employees, the birthday provision equates to almost 18 months of productivity thrown out the window.

Maybe we don’t need so many employees after all.

Who thought this was a good idea?

The next time you pay your property tax, remember that no tax break was given to you for your birthday.

 

 

Niagara Falls Reporter - Publisher Frank Parlato Jr. www.niagarafallsreporter.com

Feb 12 , 2013