Federal managers and other management officials whose
employees are in the “rest of the U.S.” locality and who
want to get their areas attached to a metropolitan zone
where salaries are higher have been dealt a setback by an
advisory group.
The Federal Salary Council, which comprises management,
labor and compensation experts, turned down requests from
more than a dozen areas near one of the metropolitan zones.
Although some of those contacts were informal, one formal
presentation was made on behalf of Yuba and Sutter
Counties, Calif., by the Federal Managers Association
chapter there, seeking to be added to the Sacramento
locality. The presentation argued that the major federal
employer there, Beale Air Force Base, has high turnover
and a high vacancy rate that has not improved even with
increased usage of recruitment, relocation and retention
allowances.
However, the council rejected the request, saying the area
did not meet criteria for adding adjacent areas to a
locality that it set last year, including that the area
have at least 1,500 federal employees and that at least
7.5 percent of them commute from it into the metropolitan
zone. Council members also said that they were looking
for, but didn
