An increase in the city’s minimum wage to $8.25 an hour and improvements in firefighter pay are among the changes in an employee pay raise package proposed by Mayor George Flaggs Jr.

Flaggs announce the proposal Monday during the board comments section at a meeting of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen, but did not provide details.

“It’s going to cost about $375,000 to fund this raise,” he said.

“Every single person will get a raise, the minimum wage we’re raising to $8.25 an hour for everyone who has been working for the city after six months. We’re minimizing the (salary) gap between the police department and the fire department.

“The last time we did a raise, we gave the firemen a raise across the board and we did a tier system for the police department,” he said. “This time, we’re raising the tier system for the fire department.”

Flaggs said all division heads will get a 3 percent raise and everybody else will get a 2 percent raise overall.

He said the money to cover the initial cost of the raises will come from $400,000 in surplus funds that were never put in the city’s reserve fund.

“Over the next couple of years, your increase in revenue will take care of it; you’re growth and revenue will take care of it,” he said.

The board in 2014 approved raises, costing the city about $359,409.

The pay raise plan approved by the board increased the hourly rate for the city’s minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $8, and adjusted salary increases for the city’s other employees.