Summary: Congress should end the longstanding pay and fringe benefit interrelationship of Federal and District of Columbia employees that is a result of the fact that Federal employees participate in the D.C. police and firemen's retirement system and most District employees participate in the Federal civil service retirement system. About 1,500 Federal law enforcement personnel of the Park Police and Secret Service participate in pay and retirement systems that were designed for District police and firemen and are administered by the District. The District has the most liberal and costly retirement system for police and firemen in the United States, with many benefits that are more generous than those under the Civil Service system. Federal employees who retire under the District system may be reemployed in positions covered by the Civil Service system with no reduction in either salary or annuity. It is recommended that the Congress enact legislation providing that the District establish, without restriction, its own pay and benefits policies and systems for the employees now subject to Federal pay and benefit systems. It is also important to recognize the fact that the contributions to the Civil Service Retirement Fund by the District and its covered employees fall short of paying the costs of the benefits being accrued for those employees. This understatement of true retirement costs distorts District government operating costs. It is urged that organizations participating in the civil service system should be charged with their full cost of accruing benefits.
