From the December 22, 2004 FEDweek Issue

Locality Boundaries Change Finalized

Effective with the federal pay raises to be paid in January, boundary lines for many of the general schedule locality areas will be changing, with outlying counties or parts of counties in many cases being brought into a metropolitan locality.  That action, previously announced, was finalized by rules published in the December 17 Federal Register by the Office of Personnel Management. The net effect will be to shift about 17,000 employees from the catchall “rest of the U.S.” locality into one of the metropolitan areas, providing a boost in pay in the process. The changes result from the redefinition of many metropolitan areas in the wake of the 2000 census. Effective in 2006, though, three current localities-St. Louis, Kansas City and Orlando-are to be abolished and employees there will be shifted into the “rest of the U.S.” locality. Also effective in 2006 will be creation of separate locality areas for Buffalo, Phoenix and Raleigh, N.C., although exact boundary lines for them are still to be determined.

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