URBANA — About 125 non-union Champaign County employees will be getting base salary increases on Dec. 1 by virtue of a county board vote Thursday.

The raises are projected to cost the county about $210,000. They were quickly approved by the county board after a long closed session among board members.

The biggest group of employees getting wage increases are 116 so-called non-bargaining exempt employees, including lawyers, department heads, managers, supervisors and other mid-level professionals in various county departments. They will get a base wage increase of 3 percent, their first since Dec. 1, 2008. The following fiscal year their wages were frozen and in the current year they received a lump sum payment equal to 2.5 percent of their wage, but no adjustment to their wage base.

The pay increases for the 116 employees is estimated to cost $202,191.

Ten other so-called non-exempt employees, mostly clerical and technical workers not under the AFSCME union, will get a 2 percent raise. They had received a 2.5 percent pay raise in the current fiscal year.

In a memo to county board members, County Administrator Deb Busey said that "continuing budgetary constraints of the general corporate fund mean that any increase in salary appropriation must be sustainable in the recommended fiscal year and moving forward.

"While the recommendation presented here is conservative, it represents a salary plan that is sustainable, and reflects equity with other groups of employees employed by Champaign County."