For all you word warriors, what does it mean to be meritorious?

At USM, it evidently means to get merit raises during the off-year when there are no faculty and staff raises.  Maybe it has something to do with loyalty? 

What do Joan Exline, Cynthia Moore and a handful of Rex Gandy's faculty in CoST have in common?  Evidently, meritorious behavior.

Promotions and counter-offers might be legitimate, but when those situations don't apply, the raises sound simply gratuitous.  Normally, one could check out the data in the Budget Book but what happens when changes get made right after the Budget Book gets printed?