Salary council calls for review of locality pay

The Federal Salary Council on Friday agreed to ask the Office of Personnel Management to review locality pay rates nationwide and develop recommendations for the council's Sept. 30 meeting.

The move came in response to testimony provided to the council by 14 regions petitioning to be recognized as locality pay areas. They currently fall under the catchall "Rest of U.S." category and generally receive lower locality increases than major cities.

Representatives from the Beaumont-Port Arthur metropolitan area in Texas requested to be added to the nearby Houston locality pay area. They maintained that the region met federal requirements for inclusion in an adjacent pay area, including the minimum population of 1,500 General Schedule employees.

The area has funded staffing levels in excess of 1,500 employees, but only 1,396 of those positions are filled because of the lack of competitive locality pay, Beaumont representatives said. "The irony is not lost on federal employers with offices or facilities in the Beaumont area that compete unsuccessfully with their Houston counterparts to fill important law enforcement positions," representatives said.

In years past, the council has voted to shift some cities into or out of the "Rest of U.S" category. In 2007, it voted to stick with the same 32 locality areas as in 2006. The council will decide at its next meeting whether to move the areas under review out of the catchall category.

The Federal Executives Association of Western Massachusetts made a case for adding Berkshire County to the nearby Hartford, Conn., pay area. The group has been proposing the change since 2005.

The area is the only county in Southern New England where General Schedule employees do not receive locality increases, Berkshire County representatives noted, which they say has hindered its ability to recruit and retain people, specifically in technical and managerial positions.

The Federal Executives Association of Northeastern New York recommended that the council establish a new locality area in the Capital Region of New York, where federal agencies have struggled to compete with the private sector and state government on pay and benefits. Another representative made a similar case for New Orleans, also citing recruitment and retention challenges.

Ten other locations -- Albuquerque, N.M.; Austin, Texas; Bakersfield/Kern County, Calif.; Charlottesville, Va.; Colorado Springs, Colo.; Logan County, Ohio; Mechanicsburg, Pa.; Polk County, Texas; Portland, Maine; and Wilmington, N.C. -- submitted written statements to the council for review.

Terri Lacy, chairwoman of the council, recommended that OPM evaluate the locality pay areas during the coming weeks and make recommendations prior to the Sept. 30 meeting.

"We will plan our recommendations to the pay agent on locality pay areas and those that should be approved for 2010," Lacy said.