Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala, Jr. is suing the county pension board and has asked a judge to force county officials to adequately fund a retirement system slated to run out of money in 15 years.

In the 43-page lawsuit, filed in Allegheny County Common Pleas Court’s civil division, Zappala says the wobbly pension fund is no secret.

Mandated annual reports “have demonstrated the erosion of the system’s long-term viability” for years, the lawsuit said.

This year, for example, the pension system was funded with $91 million in county and employee contributions, the lawsuit said. But the difference between the estimated cost of future payouts and the assets the board has to pay those benefits neared $140 million.

Allegheny County, which is also named as a defendant, has roughly 6,000 active employees.

“Despite the red flags raised … year after year, the board has continuously failed to develop a plan or enact measures to make the system actuarially sound,” the DA said in the lawsuit. “In fact, the financial deterioration of the system is so severe that any further delay in remedying the problem will make solutions far more draconian in the future.”

Zappala filed the lawsuit on behalf of the state and Zappala’s chief of staff, Rebecca Spangler.

Spangler, a 29-year county veteran, started paying into the retirement fund in 1995, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit argued that the retirement system’s looming potential insolvency would deprive Spangler and other county workers of their “statutory and contractual rights” to receive the pensions to which they are entitled.

Neither Zappala nor Spangler responded to TribLive requests for comment. Their lawyers in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia also did not reply to inquiries.

A spokesperson for Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato declined to comment.

Allegheny County Controller Corey O’Connor, who is on the pension board, raised concerns in June about the county spending more money than it took in last year, the first time that’s happened since 2011.

O’Connor called 2023 an “inflection point” for Allegheny County and cautioned that serious financial problems lie ahead for county government unless urgent action is taken.

O’Connor specifically raised concerns with funding county employee pensions in addition to citing minimal growth in property tax revenues and the impending exhaustion of federal pandemic emergency aid.

The pension board’s plan to increase already high monthly contributions to the retirement fund from county employees is not enough to adequately fund the system, O’Connor said in June.

If the retirement system maintains membership as its current levels, the pension board actuary’s latest projections from a Jan. 1, 2024, valuation show that the system is projected to run out of assets in about 15 years, he said.

Allegheny County spent over $921 million in 2023, which is $23 million more than it took in that year, according to controller’s annual report released in the spring.

County spending also was $76 million higher last year compared to 2022, primarily driven by increased labor costs, the report said.

County council, facing a potential $133 million budget shortfall, last week passed a 36% property tax increase.

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