When he isn’t navigating the maze of federal HR rules, benefits strategist John Elliott is a commuter based in Northern Virginia. It has the second worst traffic in the nation and many fear worse is yet to come. We asked Elliott for a words-of-wisdom guest column.

Here goes:

“Ominous things for federal employees and retirees lie in wait. Mike Causey has written extensively about the looming horror such as:

• Extend the current 2 year federal pay freeze for white collar federal workers by at least another year.
• Congress likes a proposal that would fire federal and postal workers who are seriously behind in their taxes (so do I).
• There are also plans to freeze ALL federal hiring.
• Eliminate within-grade raises for federal workers.
• Base future retirement benefits for federal and postal workers on their length of service and highest-5 year average salary. Under current rules, annuities are based on service time and the employee’s high-3 average salary.
• Change the formula used to compute future cost of living (inflation-catch-up) raises for federal and postal employees. The proposal in question could reduce future annual COLAs by a full percentage point each year.
• Revamp the formula used to determine how much of your health premium the government pays. Right now the government pays about 70 percent of the total premium for most plans. Each year the government would pay a smaller portion of the fast-rising premiums while employees and retirees would pay more each year.

“And now my fellow citizens of the Washington Metro area, I shall pile on. In the local news we’ve been hearing about the coming traffic snarl, experts have called it a ‘tsunami,’ that will sweep the I-95, I-395 corridor come September, all because the Pentagon felt it was a terrific idea to build a massive office building off the Seminary Road exit to house thousands of their employees. The looming tower, looking ominously complete, sits in the Mark Center Area of Alexandria threatening to savage the lives of local residents and commuters approaching it from both directions, and those approaching Alexandria Hospital in an ambulance. The writers of the 50’s sitcom, ‘You’ll Never Get Rich’, starring Phil Silvers as Sgt. Ernie Bilko, couldn’t have devised a more laughable scenario. Indeed, it might take the connivance of a Bilko-like operative to torpedo this mess. Or, can we hope with the good offices of Congressman Jim Moran now at work that we will be spared? Mr. Moran has lately been loud in his protestations of the impending staffing of the building; other Northern Virginian congressmen and local government officials, not so much. My wife, when she first heard of the construction plans, said, ‘this can’t be good.’ Which begs the question, where were our elected officials before the first shovel of dirt was turned?

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“Mr. Moran has proposed that parking space be limited to 1,000 cars, but how much this will help, is an open question. Shuttle buses from the nearest Metro station don’t seem to be a viable solution, according to the congressman. There is a bill in Congress to delay the occupation of the building, but that implies that it will be occupied at some point. I propose that the Mark Center be used as a giant nursing home for former feds, members of Congress, and Mike Causey (but only for those who had the foresight and generosity of spirit to purchase long term care insurance). Those folks won’t be driving to and fro from work 5 days a week.

Much has been said about how long commutes detract from the quality of our lives. Hours spent traveling to and from work, robs us from spending more time with our families, adds more stress to our lives, and pollutes the atmosphere, literally and figuratively. In this age where technology is capable of freeing most of us from having to commute to a central work location, why are we still building hugely expensive buildings just to house workers that no longer need to be together five times a week?” John Elliott

To reach me: mcausey@federalnewsradio.com

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