Proposal would raise Allegheny County Executive's pay in 2020
The next Allegheny County Executive could take office in 2020 with a substantial pay increase, according to legislation on county council's agenda for next week's meeting.
Councilman Michael Finnerty, D-Scott, has proposed increasing the salary of the county executive from $90,000 to 68 percent of the governor's salary.
The bill is set to be introduced at council's meeting Wednesday. It will be sent to committee for further review. The salary bump would take effect Jan. 1, 2020, if approved.
Gov. Tom Wolf's salary is $190,823 this year (he donates it to charity), meaning the county executive would make $129,760, a 44 percent increase, if the pay raise happened this year. By 2020, the pay raise could be as much as $50,000.
County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, a Squirrel Hill Democrat, is serving his second term as county executive and could run for a third and final term that would start in 2020. He supports increasing pay for the job.
“I don't think it should happen now, but in the next term and moving forward, the institution needs to adjust,” Fitzgerald said.
The pay increase won't influence Fitzgerald's decision to seek a third term.
“I didn't run for the job way-back-when for the pay,” he said. “I love the job, and my intention is to (run for a third term), and I've said that all along.”
The county executive has not received a pay raise since the Home Rule Charter was established in 2000. Finnerty's bill calls for the county executive's salary to increase every year after 2020 indexed to inflation in Pittsburgh. The county executive's salary cannot increase more than the cumulative average of annual salary increases for county employees under collective bargaining agreements, according to the bill.
The governor's pay also is pegged to inflation.
The county executive pay raise would move the position from the 123rd highest paid county employee to near the top 10. Health Department Director Dr. Karen Hacker is the top paid county employee at $213,178, followed by Medical Examiner Dr. Karl Williams at $196,064 and District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. at $175,572.
“The position itself, not Rich or anyone else, but the chief executive of Allegheny County should be making more than $90,000,” Finnerty said.
Finnerty expects the pay raise to entice more candidates to run for county executive. He said it elevates respect for the position. Fitzgerald was challenged by only one independent candidate, Todd Elliott Koger, when he ran for re-election in 2015.
The proposal to raise the county executive's pay comes three weeks after Finnerty proposed raising stipends and expense accounts for county council members. That bill is pending in the Government Reform Committee.
Aaron Aupperlee is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 412-320-7986 or aaupperlee@tribweb.com.
