City of Meridian employees and police officers will soon see a little extra money in their paychecks after the city council voted to raise their pay on Tuesday.

The council approved a $2.50 per hour raise for certified police officers and a $1.25 per hour raise for other city employees. The raises will impact the majority of the city’s workforce, including part-time and temporary workers.

Department heads, which are salaried positions, are exempt from the raises. City employees on suspension won’t receive the raises until returning to regular status.

Ward 3 Councilman Joseph Norwood said he wanted to include the part-time and temporary workers to further the council’s goal of helping those at the bottom of the city’s pay scale.

“I’m for all city employees getting a pay raise,” he said. “We said we want to bring the people from the bottom up.”

The pay raises are part of an effort by the city to fill vacancies within city departments, especially the police department. The Meridian Police Department has struggled with officer staffing, with about 50% of positions empty at the beginning of the budget year in August.

Police Chief Deborah Naylor Young previously said higher pay would be a key recruitment tool to attract new officers to the department. The raises, she said, would also help encourage the department’s current officers, some of whom have worked seven days a week due to staff shortages and COVID-19.

An cost estimate for the raises was not immediately available for the council to consider. The city has calculated the cost for the raises for full-time employees to add about $1.2 million annually to the city’s expenses. However, the addition of part-time and temporary workers is expected to increase that total.

Chief Financial Officer Brandye Latimer has previously assured the council that money for raises is available in the current year’s budget, with funds from unfilled positions in each department covering the cost.

Chief Administrative Officer Tim Miller said it would take some time for all of the raises to be computed and entered into the city’s payroll system, but employees would likely see the increase reflected on their checks in March.