COLUMBUS (WCMH) — Franklin County workers are getting a raise this year, and you paid for it.

It’s the first time commissioners have approved this type of raise in more than a decade. The merit based raises are on top of the annual two percent raises already included in the budget for non-union employees.

“We are very conservative in our approach to wages,” said Franklin County administrator Kenneth Wilson.

The county has not handed out these types of raises since 2006. The upcoming raises apply to about 4,000 county employees.  The raises were approved during a commissioner meeting last week.

Commissioners said the raises are required to keep and recruit good employees.

“You need to do that, in order to be able to have the best and brightest employees,” Wilson added.

For 470 workers with the 13 agencies under the Board of Commissioners such as Economic Development, Job and Family Services and Child Support Enforcement workers will see an increase of one to four percent, based on their work performance last year. The remaining 3800 non-union employees will see a one percent merit increase on top of their annual two percent cost of living increase.

The total cost to taxpayers is an additional $7.1 million.

“We plug that into our long range financial forecast, we plan for what we can do,” said Wilson of the budgeted money.

The raises are the result of a 2016 study that looked at Franklin County pay and compared it to other large Ohio counties. They found the raises were needed to stay competitive in the current job market.

Workers will see the raises in upcoming paychecks.

Franklin County is one of the largest in the state and will spend about $541 million in salaries and benefits for its 2018 budget.

As to how commissioners will pay for the increases, Wilson said the funds were allocated for this purpose in this years approved budget.