Workers with the city of Bristol, Virginia can expect to see more money in their pockets. City council members recently voted to approve pay raises for city employees across the board, including firefighters and police officers.

Firefighters will see a 10 percent raise, while police officers will be seeing a heftier increase.

Bristol, Virginia Vice Mayor Neal Osborne says the idea of the raise is to encourage more people to apply to join the force.

He says he understands the national climate surrounding police officers the past few years has been difficult, but he is hopeful that will soon change.

"We felt like this would be a good way to get people to be more receptive and more interested in being in law enforcement, and being in law enforcement specifically in the City of Bristol."

Osborne told News 5 that the council approved a 17 percent raise for Bristol, Virginia police officers.