(WASHINGTON, D.C.) – Last week, Congressman Jamie Raskin signed a letter to the Bureau of the Fiscal Service (Fiscal Service) expressing their opposition to ongoing efforts to relocate 79 employees in Hyattsville, MD and Washington, DC to Parkersburg, WV. The letter is signed all Democratic Members of the Maryland Delegation - Senators Ben Cardin and Chris Van Hollen and Representatives Steny Hoyer, Elijah Cummings, Dutch Ruppersberger, John Sarbanes, Anthony G. Brown, and David Trone (all D-MD).
When the Fiscal Service was originally created in 2013 by consolidating the Bureau of Public Debt (BPD) and the Financial Management Service (FMS), up to 450 positions were expected to be moved from the DC metropolitan region to West Virginia. This relocation was delayed until 2019.
Since 2013, many of the original conditions used to justify the relocation have changed considerably. First, the Fiscal Service has likely already exceeded its original savings target and no longer needs to relocate these employees. Second, the number of employees to relocate has dramatically decreased to 79 due to natural attrition, retirement and other employment opportunities within the Treasury Department.
The Members believe, “these employees should not be moved. They have long job histories, irreplaceable institutional knowledge, and perform essential duties for the Federal Government's critical financial infrastructure.”
“Given these factors,” they argue, “proceeding with the plan to relocate the remaining 79 employees is unnecessary since it is not in the best interest of the Fiscal Service or the taxpayers, and it will seriously disrupt the employees’ lives.”
The full letter can be found below.
Dear Commissioner Gribben:
We write to express our opposition to the Bureau of the Fiscal Service's (Fiscal Service) ongoing efforts to relocate 79 employees in Hyattsville, MD and Washington, DC to Parkersburg, WV. These employees should not be moved. They have long job histories, irreplaceable institutional knowledge, and perform essential duties for the Federal Government's critical financial infrastructure.
When the Fiscal Service was originally created in 2013 by consolidating the Bureau of Public Debt (BPD) and the Financial Management Service (FMS), up to 450 positions were expected to be moved from the DC metropolitan region to West Virginia. At that time, the relocation was intended to improve the delivery of public services and save $96 million taxpayer dollars over five years. Since Parkersburg is in another State and over 300 miles away from the Washington metropolitan area, the Department of Treasury agreed to postpone the relocation of employees until 2019.
In the ensuing years, many of the original conditions used to justify the relocation have changed considerably. First, the Fiscal Service has likely already exceeded its original savings target and no longer needs to relocate these employees. Second, the number of employees to relocate has dramatically decreased to 79 due to natural attrition, Voluntary Early Retirement Authority (VERA) and Voluntary Separation Incentive Payments (VSIP), job swaps, and new employment opportunities within the Treasury Department.
Given these factors, we believe that proceeding with the plan to relocate the remaining 79 employees is unnecessary since it is not in the best interest of the Fiscal Service or the taxpayers, and it will seriously disrupt the employees’ lives. Given that the employees are satisfactorily performing their duties remotely, we request that you allow them to remain in their current location and telework so they do not have to uproot their families to keep their jobs. Allowing the employees to telework but requiring them to “check in” at Parkersburg once per period is an undue hardship since the roundtrip commute is 10 to 12 hours and so would require them to stay overnight every two weeks.
If the Fiscal Service is committed to proceeding with relocation, we request that you provide a justification for this move, including a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis.
Thank you for your attention to this matter and we look forward to your prompt response.
###