Editorial: Will minimum wage bill set up a new veto showdown in Allegheny County?

Just 11 months ago, Allegheny County was facing a veto showdown with County Executive Rich Fitzgerald.

It’s not something that happens often in a county where one party dominates — although the Democratic-heavy county council is not always on the same page as their fellow party member with the veto pen.

In July, council was facing votes to overturn two Fitzgerald vetoes. One bill banned fracking in county-owned parks. The other sought more oversight of the executive’s salary decisions for staff he hired and gave raises.

It came down to a thin margin. Council overturned the veto of the fracking ban. It didn’t muster the same numbers for the salary bill.

Now council has set up another power play with the passing of a bill establishing a minimum wage for county employees. Even before the bill was passed Tuesday, Fitzgerald expressed his opposition, including endorsing a primary opponent of one of the bill’s sponsors, Councilwoman Bethany Hallam.

That doesn’t guarantee a veto from Fitzgerald, who is in the final months of his last term in office. The bill passed by a 10-4 majority with one absence, which would be enough to overcome a veto if necessary — assuming no one flips.

A 2021 paid sick leave bill had the same margin but failed to meet the 10-vote threshold to overcome a veto when it came back to council. It was later amended and passed fully.

That points to the value of a veto — not in killing legislation but in forcing a reconsideration for how it moves forward.

The minimum wage bill would set a floor for only county employees at $18 per hour next year, moving to $19 in 2025 and $20 per hour by 2026. The Allegheny County solicitor has questioned its legality, saying council doesn’t have the authority to set a minimum wage. But that seems questionable, given that council approves the budget, which includes but does not specifically break out salaries, and sets policies for county workers. This would be the intersection of those authorities.

Although the minimum currently is the state and federal rock bottom of $7.25 per hour, Fitzgerald said a number of full-time county workers already are at the $18 per hour rate, meaning much of the cost would be about new or part-time employees. The budget impact is estimated at about 3% of a $1 billion operating budget.

Will this matter enough to Fitzgerald to have one his last battles be over how much or how little to pay the county’s lowest-paid employees when a year ago he was fighting about how much he could pay his own hand-picked staff without answering to council?

Hard to say.

But if he does veto it, the more interesting question will be whether it means enough to council to maintain that 10-vote majority to override.

Editor’s note: To clarify, while the council approves the county’s budget, which includes salaries, the Home Rule Charter does not provide for direct or individual salary approval.