The President’s Pay Agent has backed a proposal that would add 12 city areas to the GS locality system effective in January 2014—what would be the largest such expansion since the system was created two decades ago. However, implementing rules including definitions of the exact boundary lines would need to be put in place by then. Adding the areas was recommended last fall by a lower-level group, the Federal Salary Council; the action would slightly boost pay in those areas above what employees currently are receiving as part of the catchall "rest of the U.S." locality. The cities are Albany, Albuquerque, Austin, Charlotte, Colorado Springs, Davenport, Harrisburg, Laredo, Las Vegas, Palm Bay, St. Louis and Tucson. The Pay Agent – consisting of the heads of Labor, OMB and OPM — meanwhile left for a later decision issues involving adding outlying areas to existing localities; it will wait until new figures on commuting rates, due later this year, are available. It further rejected the Salary Council’s recommendation to restore prior data used in comparing federal and private sector salaries, saying the money needed to gather those statistics isn’t available. And as it had done in the past, it expressed reservations about granting the same percentage pay raises in a locality across-the-board, suggesting variation by occupation, as well.
