Planned Pay Raises
Plan would bring 5 percent pay raise
Some would get more under options outlined by service chiefs
By Rick Maze, Times staff writer
Washington, DC, May14, 2001 - A plan taking shape in the Pentagon would give all troops a larger basic-pay raise next year than the 4.6 percent required by law, but some would get more than others.
The services are committed to spending President Bush's promised $1 billion for military pay improvements on basic-pay increases for all troops, rather than on bonuses and special pays for just a few.
Details of the plan still need to be settled and approved. But Pentagon sources said the service chiefs have reached tentative agreement that the $1 billion should be used for a major adjustment in military pay scales effective Jan. 1, focusing on boosting senior enlisted pay.
The minimum raises would be 5 percent, the average would be 6.8 percent and the biggest raises would top 9 percent, sources said.
Sources involved in the pay plan deliberations, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the services have agreed on certain principles for the 2002 pay raise. But they have not settled on a specific formula and instead have submitted several options to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who has not yet been briefed on the options.
He will be asked to decide if all the big raises - up to about 9.5 percent - should go to enlisted members and warrant officers, or if some above-average increases also should go to officers.
Another decision Rumsfeld will make is whether to significantly boost pay for O-3s, a grade in which all services have retention problems, sources said.
A big pay increase for O-3s would reduce the money available for enlisted pay raises and could not be done without also giving O-4s and O-5s above-average raises to keep a balance in the pay table's promotion incentives, sources said.
The services agree on these points:
** The entire $1 billion should be spent on basic-pay increases. The White House Office of Management and Budget suggested the money could have a more immediate effect on military recruiting and retention if spent solely on increases in bonuses and special pays, but the services rejected that idea.
** While pay raises may be targeted, everyone should get a piece of the $1 billion. This is the main reason why the minimum proposed pay raise is 5 percent, slightly better than the 4.6 percent required by law. The services' senior enlisted advisers strongly advocated this share-the-wealth policy, arguing that failure to do so could cause resentment in the ranks.
** All the options focus on providing significant raises for E-5s through E-9s, based on the work of a joint-service study group that compared the pay of enlisted supervisors and private-sector workers with similar responsibilities and education. The enlisted-first policy for targeted raises is partly a response to complaints that the July 2000 pay table adjustments gave officers bigger raises than enlisted personnel got.
Those adjustments were based on a Rand Corp. study commissioned by the Pentagon that concluded officers were underpaid when compared to private-sector workers, while many enlisted members were overpaid or equal to their civilian counterparts. The study, and the resulting bigger raises for officers, led to loud complaints from noncommissioned officers and petty officers.
** The pay increases should take effect Jan. 1, with no mid-year raise in 2002. This would halt a two-year cycle of raises in both January and July.
Top defense officials have been highly secretive about the 2002 defense budget preparations because the finished product is expected to include Bush's broad plan to transform the military. Senior Pentagon officials want to limit discussion of options to avoid predecision attacks from opponents of change.The pay proposals are not in that same decision-making category, but personnel officials are wary of running afoul of Rumsfeld's warnings to leave budget decisions to him.
Defense and service sources cautioned that Pentagon pay and personnel officials don't know what to expect from Rumsfeld on the pay proposals.
There's no firm date for a decision, but the pay raise is expected to be part of the detailed defense budget request that will go to Congress in late May or early June.
Congress must approve any Pentagon pay proposal for 2002, and that's not automatic. "We don't know what will happen when this crosses the river," said one service official. h
Copyright 2001 Army Times Publishing Company. All Rights Reserved.
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