Champaign Non-Union Staff to Get Raises in Fiscal Budget

The next fiscal budget for the city of Champaign will include two percent raises for non-union employees.

Those staff members didn't get raises in the current fiscal year. The city council quickly signed off on the budget plan Tuesday night.

Raises for Champaign's union workers, such as those with AFSCME, are unclear since they are in contract negotiations. And the city's firefighters union is waiting on a decision from an arbitrator. City Finance Director Richard Schnuer said it is difficult to gauge what impact the non-bargaining staff raises will have, but he said each citywide salary increase of one percent is worth about $400,000 in personnel costs.

Schnuer said some unanticipated increases, like the cost of snow removal, were factored into the budget.

"As the year progressed, and the negotiations progressed, we realized that we were going to have increases," he said. "So the adopted budget does reflect the increases that were agreed to by the council and unions."

The city council's earlier action to restore three positions at the police department is included in the budget, but two of those positions are currently vacant. Next month, the council is expected to discuss the future of those jobs, along with potential new sources of revenue.

Cutting those positions would mean shutting down the police front desk during overnight hours.