Thanks to our friends at the Idaho Freedom Foundation for this story. We’re approaching the holiday season and already the Christmas commercials are playing and the malls are displaying their holiday merchandise. So as you begin thinking about planning your Christmas party, you may be interested to hear about the party that you paid for last year. Oh yeah, did I mention that you weren’t even invited?

The city of McCall threw its employees a $5,490 Christmas party at taxpayer expense. City records show that the party was held at the McCall Golf Club and included $2,783 for dinner and $2,707 for gifts and gift certificates. Hope the prime rib was delicious!

The bigger question here is why McCall is spending so much for a holiday party during a recession that’s hurting the tourism industry the city depends on. Employees are already getting a great deal from the taxpayers! They have full-time jobs that aren’t dependent on the weather like the rest of us have to live with. They have paid vacation and paid sick leave that most of the business people in McCall cannot offer to their employees. Many businesses are asking their employees to take a pay cut. To make matters worse, they hosted the party at the same time the city raised property taxes. They raised taxes by 3%. When everybody else is cutting back, is it too much to ask that they refrain from giving increases?