Dinger says he’s broke, wants SSB to pay workers

He no longer has an office there, but today Roger Dinger returned to the Bellevue. News 5 caught up with the veteran innkeeper as he waited outside the padlocked hotel to meet Social Security Board chairman Beto Mai. The purpose of the meeting, according to Dinger, was to find some way to keep the hotel opened and avoid the continued layoff of around thirty employees. According to Dinger, who declined to be interviewed on camera, he is broke and has no money to pay the workers who were put out of their jobs when the S.S.B. repossessed the hotel for non-payment of rent. Dinger, while admitting that he is legally responsible for his employee’s unpaid salaries, says that since it was the Social Security Board’s stiff terms and inflexibility that forced the closure, they should bear the burden of paying off the workers or keep the hotel running. He estimates that the total bill for salaries, severance, holiday and notice pay is around forty-six thousand dollars. At newstime the Social Security Board chairman had yet to show up for the meeting. According to reports, the unpaid Bellevue workers will be holding a meeting of their own with the Board’s representative on Monday morning. Dinger told News 5 that he intends to be present and defend his position at that time.