A consolidation of operations in the Treasury Department will cost Prince George's County 450 jobs, a blow to a county that is trying to attract new federal office occupancy, not lose part of the scarce federal workforce it now houses.
The department will move the jobs from its offices in Hyattsville to Parkersburg, W.Va., a move, first reported by the Washington Post, expected to begin in 2013 and take up to three years.
Prince George's is home to roughly a quarter of the region's federal workers but only 3.7 percent of the D.C. region's federal office space is leased in the county, a disparity that has long been ignored by the federal government, according to County Executive Rushern Baker, who said he was disappointed by the Treasury move.
The decision also contradicts President Obama's orders to focus federal office space around transit, officials said -- the Treasury Department's offices in Prince George's are located near the Prince George's Plaza Metro station.
"Prince George's County has consistently been ignored by the federal government when looking for opportunities for office space," Baker said. "The federal government should work more collaboratively with Prince George's County and our congressional delegation to address the widening disparity in regional federal leasing policies that have negatively impacted our county."