The city of Des Moines has lots of hard-working employees who willingly forgo vacation just to keep things humming along smoothly.

Or, the city of Des Moines is being snookered by people who turn vacation time into a retirement benefit, or weave small scraps of paid time off into a big, comfy quilt called “I’m outta here for the winter.”

Or maybe it’s something in between.

City Councilman Chris Coleman has noticed that Des Moines is dangling on a $4.3 million “accrued vacation” hook and suggests that something should be done to keep the number from growing.

The figure represents the value of vacation time that hasn’t been taken during recent years. It grows constantly, because each year’s total gets added to the existing commitment. It’s the vacation that never ends.

That’s odd, because the city’s contracts with unions include limits on the amount of vacation a worker can carry over from year to year. “In general, unions have a cap of two years of vacation accrual,” said Tom Turner, director of human resources for the city. However, he said, “when I came here in 1997, I noticed that vacation limits didn’t seem to have much meaning here.”

Apparently, it’s been going on like this for 30 years or so. And now, according to Turner, 61 members of the Municipal Employees Association have a grip on $391,000 in accrued vacation time; 104 members of the Central Iowa Public Employees Council are owed $796,000 in excess of contractual limits; 114 members of the police union have excess vacation worth $858,000; and supervisors who are not in unions have $2.2 million due them.

“It’s hard to make an employee go on vacation,” Turner said. “What happens now is that upon termination, an employee gets paid (for accrued vacation time). We haven’t capped that accrual; we’ve been paying it out in cash.”

You certainly could argue that city workers deserve compensation for those days when they toiled away rather than sitting on a beach. The question is whether it’s fair to future taxpayers to let it build without limit. Most companies treat vacation time as a way to help employees get through the year without burning out. Then, on Jan. 1, you start the great psychological test all over again.

There’s also the issue of accruing vacation days so a whole bunch of them can be used at once. If an employee saves a day here and there with the intent of later bailing out for a couple of months at once, is that fair to his co-workers?

The $4 million debt will be paid off gradually over a long time span, as those employees retire in random fashion. That’s why it’s hard to get people to focus on it and make a change.

City Attorney Bruce Bergman said he “suspects” the city will move toward a policy that requires employees to use each year’s vacation time within that year.

Turner said the subject was discussed in a City Council workshop last week and that Acting City Manager Rick Clark said he would try to come up with a plan within 30 days.

Employees are likely to be dissatisfied with almost any policy change. But as one former colleague used to say to complainers: “Hey, you came here looking for work, didn’t you?”