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My understanding was that locality + COLA for GS employees is 25% of your base. Locality may currently only be 17% but the remainder of the 25% is covered by COLA. These are shifting and eventually it will be all locality, but still 25%.
Ok I see. So the locality eventually becomes 25%. Still seems a little low for the Islands considering its taxed. Oh well...can't expect much from a broke country :-)
Yes, I agree HR fed govt people are having difficulty even figuring out exactly what you will get paid, and do not have a good sense of what is happening. COLA is being phased out over the next 3 years. This is legislation that Sen. Akaka proposed, and the long-term benefit is excellent, and after speaking with 2 friends who are feds in Hawaii, they both tell me that it comes out about the same in terms of monthly paycheck. Agree with soflobound that is it definitely NOT a factor in deciding whether to take the job. Disagree with soflobound re: whether it will or won't happen next year. My understanding is that it is a done deal, changes are already being implemented, and the phase out will absolutely happen. My source of information is a GS-15 attorney who lives/works in Hawaii. See for more info Federal Executive Board :: Honolulu Pacific - COLA/Locality Pay Information (http://www.honolulu-pacific.feb.gov/cola/ - broken link)
Well I'm not going to go out on a limb and say it's NOT going to happen. But the link you provided indicates its only a bill. Last year my wife had HR meetings explaining the whole thing like it's a done deal and then it didn't happen because it never went beyond being a bill. Probably will this time, but who knows when we're talking about Congress.
This link discusses what will happen to COLA after the 3-year transition. It estimates locality pay rate will need to be 38% to offset elimination of COLA but doesn't give a timeline on how long that will take. http://www.opm.gov/oca/Cola/FAQsCOLAtoLocality.pdf
My understanding is that it looks like locality pay only gives you about 3k anually, but cola would give you 15k anually, what did I look at wrong, it seems like a lot of people wouldn't just sit by while they cut your pay by 12k annually.
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