City of Meridian workers will see Christmas come a little bit early this year after the City Council on Tuesday voted to raise pay for most city employees.

The council approved a $1,000 raise for all full-time, overtime eligible city employees across all departments, with an additional $1,000 for full-time, overtime eligible, certified police officers.

Council members had previously earmarked roughly $400,000 for raises and moved it into the legislative fund, which the council controls, during the fiscal year 2024 budget process. The council’s stated goal in reserving the funds was to make sure money for raises remained available while the city administration worked to gather the information needed to put the raises into effect.

Councilman George Thomas, who made the motion for the raises, said the pay increase will go into effect on the first day after the second paycheck in November. That will be at the beginning of a new pay period, he said, and employees will see the raise reflected on their first December paycheck.

As a precaution, the council also included in its motion a clause to increase pay bands as necessary to avoid employees missing out on the raise. Pay bands are set by the council and establish an upper and lower limit of what each position pays.

Under normal circumstances, changes to pay bands must be added to the council’s agenda and voted on at a city council meeting. The council’s action allows for the automatic increase of those pay bands as needed to incorporate the raises.

Councilman Dwayne Davis said the move will also resolve reports he has received about some city employees being told they will not receive the raise due to being at the upper limits of their pay bands.