City of Vicksburg employees can expect a pay raise in April, Mayor George Flaggs Jr. said Thursday.

“We have every intention of giving pay raises April 1 around that pay period,” Flaggs said at the start of Thursday’s meeting of the Board of Mayor and Aldermen.

The raises will run from 2 to 5 percent. Some of the higher-paid employees, however, may not see a raise.

The mayor attached one condition to the raises.

“Hopefully if the revenues come in and we can pay the big tickets (items) because we have some big tickets we’ve got to pay. As a security, I don’t like to give raises before we pay the bills,” he said. “I want to give the raises after we pay the bills and after we do some other things.”

One group that will not be getting a raise is the Board of Mayor and Aldermen, Flaggs said.

“I think this board has capped out on a salary for themselves; I’m not going to ask for a raise and I’m not going to recommend that the board get a raise,” he said. “On this form of government, I think we’re capped out. But I do think we ought to take care of the employees.”

Flaggs said after the meeting the raises will be based on an employee’s total annual pay, adding that a $9 an hour employee costs the city a total of about $33,000 when the cost of employee benefits is figured in with the employee’s salary.

He said the raises will be from 2 to 5 percent based on the employee’s annual income. Some employees, he said, may not get a raise depending on their salaries.

According to a worksheet Flaggs prepared on the proposed raises, employees making $64,459.20 or more will not get a raise, while raises for other employees earning less will be based on a scale with employees whose salary is below $34,340.80 a year will get the full 5 percent raise.

“My intention is to reverse it (the raises) so the person on the bottom end gets the highest percentage,” Flaggs said.