How can anybody making $149,000 a year be unhappy?

It’s easier than you think.

Many, maybe most Americans might lop off a favorite part of their anatomy to earn that kind of money. But a growing number of feds at the top of the civil service grade ladder (GS 15, step 10) feel they’ve already had something vital cut off: Money! Salary that they should be getting but aren’t because they’ve been capped to keep them from making more than their top bosses.

Being capped wasn’t much of an issue until the last federal pay raise went into effect in January of this year. At that time, feds in 32 areas got a general pay raise(2.5 percent) and a locality adjustment. For the biggest group, in the D.C-Baltimore area, the total raise was 4.49 percent.

But until that raise only a handful of GS 15 employees, 824 according to the Congressional Research Service, were capped. After the raises, the number of feds at the top of GS 15 who were capped hit 6,080. Next year, after the new raise, the number will climb higher unless Congress raises the executive pay cap. The next president is likely to want the best people (political appointees) he can get. Congress, since 2009 is not an election year, may take action to raise the cap.

But…

For many of the cappies, the damage has already been done. A lot of them are at or close to retirement. Their starting annuity will be based on length of service and their highest 3-year average salary. For some, that high-3 has been held down.

Retiring after a long career as a top-paid GS 15 is not the worst thing in the world. Considering that annuities are indexed to inflation, and that retirement comes with lifetime group health insurance, retiring with even a capped pension would seem like heaven to tens of thousands who have been laid off at Ford, Chrysler, Capital One, Bear Sterns, GM, American Airlines, etc. Layoffs and disappearing pension plans are so commonplace the government now has a website to track them. If you want to be depressed, click here.

Meantime, here’s what frozen GS 15s are saying about the situation:

Thanks for your great column. It’s always witty, timely, and helpful. I wonder if you could help shed the light on the 2009 pay raise prospects for level IV of the Executive Schedule, since their situation affects the GS 15-10 pay raise as we saw in 2008. There are far more of us 15-10s than you might imagine. Thanks, Janet

Good morning Mike: One of us is glad you’re back from vacation. I want to ask you about the pay raise as it relates to capped salaries. My pay is capped at the Executive Schedule Level 4 and I will not see the full pay raise/locality pay that my co-workers in the NY area receive. That’s what happened last year. I am retirement eligible and the sooner I retire, the sooner I get a portion of the big retirement cola. So, I’m asking if there’s any way to know what the number related to the Executive Schedules will be in advance? Alternatively, is there anything being done to raise the amounts consistent with locality pay? Thank you. Sam

Congress probably isn’t going to do anything on the subject this year. But stay tuned. Meantime, here are the official pay limits: http://www.opm.gov/oca/pay/html/02maxgs2.asp

Nearly Useless Factoid

NASA turns 50 years old tomorrow. Adjusted for inflation, the budget for NASA in its first year was just under $49 million. This year, the agency’s budget is nearly $17.5 billion. My how it’s grown!

To reach me: mcausey@federalnewsradio.com

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