COLLINS SECURES RAISE FOR YORK COUNTY FEDERAL EMPLOYEES

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The President's Pay Agent has officially granted Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Susan Collins' (R-ME) request to include parts of York County, Maine, in the Boston Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). Maintaining this designation means that the salary increases for York County's 2,300 federal civilian employees will continue to be tied to locality pay adjustments for the Boston area. The Governmental Affairs Committee has jurisdiction over the federal civil service.

"Federal employees who work at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard must pay the extra costs associated with living near a major metropolitan area," said Senator Collins. "This decision offers fairness for all of the hardworking shipyard employees and their families." In October, Senator Collins sent a letter to Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Director Kay Coles James pointing out that a majority of York County's federal employees work at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, which is only 50 miles north of Boston. York County's close proximity to Boston significantly raises the costs of housing and other necessities.

One of the Pay Agent's recommendations would retain counties that are "currently part of an MSA-based locality pay area if the county has at least a 15 percent commuting interchange rate with the metropolitan area. Under that criterion, the towns of Berwick, Eliot, Kittery, South Berwick, and York in York County, ME, will remain in the Boston locality pay area," wrote OPM Director James in a letter to Senator Collins.

In June 2003 the Office of Management and Budget released its new MSA designations, which removed York County from the Boston MSA. For example, if the Federal Pay Agent had adopted those MSA designations in 2003, York County federal civilian employees would only have received an annual salary increase of 4.03%, compared to 4.4% for the rest of the Boston area. Following Collins' letter, the Pay Agent agreed to keep York's current designation. The new designations will go into effect in January 2005.

"When the cost of living is increasing but salaries aren't keeping pace, employees get caught holding the bag," said Senator Collins. "I am very pleased that Director James has agreed to include parts of York County in the Boston MSA."

The President's Pay Agent-composed of the Secretary of Labor and the Directors of the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management-makes the final decision on recommendations for the locality pay program for General Schedule employees. Its decisions cover the establishment or modification of locality pay areas, the coverage of salary surveys, federal and non-federal rates of pay, and the level of comparability payments that should be paid.