An effort to establish and increase a minimum wage up to $20 an hour for Allegheny County employees was ruled invalid by a judge this week.

The bill was challenged by Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald after it was passed over his veto. Fitzgerald said when he filed an action for declaratory judgment this summer that while he supports wage increases in general, he believed county council did not have the legal authority to create and increase county employees’ wages.

Allegheny Common Pleas Judge Daniel Regan sided with Fitzgerald in his ruling, and said county council violated the executive powers granted to Allegheny County executive and the county manager under the county’s Home Rule Charter.

“Budgetary authority does not encompass wage-setting authority, which rests with the Executive Branch,” Regan wrote in his Tuesday order. “Furthermore, passing the Wage Ordinance was not County Council exercising its budgetary authority.”

Regan also ruled that council’s bill violates the state’s Public Employee Relations Act and Pennsylvania labor case law by unilaterally setting wages without collective bargaining.

In June, council passed and overrode Fitzgerald’s veto to set $20 an hour as the minimum wage for county workers by 2026. There would be incremental increases to $18 an hour in 2024 and to $19 an hour in 2025.

At the time, Allegheny County Council President Pat Catena, D-Carnegie, said the wage increase was needed to help county workers, particularly those who have children, make ends meet. He said a couple with two children each needs to make $23 an hour to support their family in Allegheny County, according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Living Wage Calculator.

Catena said Wednesday he had no comment on the Common Pleas ruling since he hasn’t had a chance to read it yet.

Fitzgerald thanked the judge for the ruling and said it settled the question of who has the authority over employee wages.

“As I noted when we filed, this is an important legal question that would have a lasting impact upon future executives and councils,” Fitzgerald said. “We’re glad to have the question resolved and to make it clear that the will of the voters can’t be circumvented by ordinance when the Home Rule Charter addresses an issue like this one.”

Allegheny County Councilwoman at-large Bethany Hallam, D-Marshall-Shadeland, said she respectfully disagreed with the judge’s ruling, and said it set precedent of unequal branches of government in the county.

She said she expects council will appeal the ruling shortly, and council may need to change the Home Rule Charter down the line.

“If the courts inevitably rule against the bill after appeal, we absolutely need to change the charter so that we do not have an unequal balance of power,” Hallam said. “If the branch that is responsible for setting the budget can’t also set wages, then why even have a county council?”

The bill drew diverging opinions from the county’s solicitor and council’s representation, but Regan ultimately sided with the county.

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