All 765 Decatur County School System employees will see a bigger paycheck in December. Thursday night, the Decatur County Board of Education voted unanimously to add $500 to each full- time employee’s Dec. 18 paycheck.

The total cost to the system, including applicable taxes, will be $397,629.

“As we went through the budget process, we were very committed to bring you a plan to provide some incentive pay for all of our employees,” said Superintendent Dr. Fred Rayfield, who told the board during the work session portion of the board meeting.

Rayfield said December was an opportune time to make the additional employee payments because of property tax revenues being paid, resulting in better cash flow for the school system. He also said the payments would allow employees extra money for the holiday season.

System finance officer Tim Matthews presented the board with three payment options: a $500 payment, a $400 payment and a $300 payment.

“As far as our ability to pay this, I am comfortable with this. With this payment, we will still have around $4.8 million in reserves, which is about 12 percent of our budgeted expenditures,” Matthews said referring to the $500 payment option.

Rayfield echoed Matthews opinion, saying he was very comfortable with the $500 payment to each employee.

“Not to say that we can’t repeat the process next year, or not say that we could do something different next year if we continue to be in good financial shape,” said Rayfield.

The board unanimously approved the payment plan during the regular meeting.