Thorsby’s Town Council on Tuesday approved a 3-percent, across-the-board pay raise for municipal employees.

The town’s annual payroll before the raise was about $480,000. The new annual payroll should be about $494,000.

The increased expense, at least initially, will be paid for by taxes on alcohol that have been collected. Alcoholic beverages were first available for purchase in the town in October 2010. Town Clerk Crystal Smith said the fund for those taxes has grown to more than $25,000.

Each of the town’s department heads was tasked with submitting new pay scales, based on 3-percent raises for all full-time and part-time employees, and new job descriptions.

The council unanimously approved the plans Tuesday, with three adjustments to make the raises equitable.

In another personnel-related action, the council voted to allow Parks Director Crystal Smith (not the same person as the town clerk) to work 15 hours each week instead of 10.

Also at Tuesday’s meeting, which was rescheduled from Monday because of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the town council approved to lease a backhoe for the Public Works department.

Public Works Director Terry Jackson provided council members with information showing the town’s current, older backhoe could be sold for $9,000–12,000. The new backhoe would be leased for $1,581.60 a month for five years, at which point the town could purchase the machine for $1.

Jackson had accounted for the expense in the budget he previously submitted to the council.

The council amended an ordinance related to parking on town property.

People parking tractor-trailers at some locations in the town has caused damage, so the council passed an amendment that would ban the parking of any vehicle weighing more than 10,000 pounds on town property.