Denver will recognize Juneteenth as an official city holiday starting next year after City Council gave final approval Monday night.

The proposal amends the Denver Revised Municipal Code to add a 12th paid holiday for the city’s career service employees.

Juneteenth celebrates the emancipation of enslaved people in the United States. Last year, Mayor Michael Hancock and Councilman Chris Herndon introduced a bill making June 19 a commemorative holiday per city code. Since then, both the federal and state government have made Juneteenth a holiday, prompting the city to follow suit.

Skye Stuart, legislative director with the mayor’s office, previously said that on any given holiday, the city spends about $1.3 million in overtime pay for employees who must work on that holiday. June 19 also falls during a primary election window, so city election workers may have to take the holiday on a different day, she said.

Before adding a holiday to employee benefits, the city’s human resources department surveys other cities to determine a “generally prevailing practice.”

Stuart said that 44 of the 92 entities that responded to the survey had an average of 11.81 paid holidays, meaning it’s reasonable for Denver to add a 12th holiday. Also, 61% of respondents already observe Juneteenth as a holiday and 20% of respondents are considering it. Aurora, Longmont, Lakewood and Loveland already recognize Juneteenth as a holiday, as well as national “peer cities” like Seattle, Portland, Nashville, Minneapolis and Phoenix.

No council members called out the bill for discussion, so it passed unanimously in a block vote.