PITTSBURGH \u2014 The Allegheny County executive is firing back at the district attorney over comments about the financially troubled pension fund for county employees. <\/p>\n
County Executive Sara Innamorato says she\u2019s taking this very seriously and that the retirement board has been working on a plan to right the pension fund. <\/p>\n
She accused DA Stephen Zappala of playing political theater.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat you have is a district attorney who put out a four-page press release that didn\u2019t say anything new that hasn\u2019t been public information,\u201d Innamorato said. <\/p>\n
Last week, Zappala sent out a blistering news release claiming poor oversight and political decisions have worsened the pension fund. <\/p>\n
Zappala called for independent oversight of the system\u2019s $1.4 billion unfunded liability. <\/p>\n
PREVIOUS COVERAGE >>> Allegheny County DA calls for \u2018independent oversight\u2019 of pension fund<\/a><\/p>\n Innamorato is defending her efforts to address the financial instability and questioning why the DA waited until now to speak out.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s someone who sat in office for more than two decades. I\u2019ve been here for two and a half years and we have done a tremendous amount of work to increase the transparency and accountability of the pension board,\u201d Innamorato said.<\/p>\n Two years ago, Zappala sued the county and retirement board alleging that decades of underfunding and risky investments created the pension fund problems. <\/p>\n The back and forth between Zappala and Innamorato comes after the retirement board recently released a sobering report that the fund will become insolvent by 2043, blaming decades of inadequate funding and that an additional $100 million every year for two decades is needed to fix it. The report also suggests potential revenue sources, including a payroll tax, sales tax or property tax. <\/p>\n Innamorato says she\u2019s working on a fix.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a new pension board that was set at the beginning of my administration, and we have taken this very seriously. We have brought in experts to analyze the pension, see where we are at, see how we got here, and see how we actually solve it moving forward, not just participating in political theater.\u201d<\/p>\n Innamorato says the board is working on a plan and she indicated on Thursday that it involves reaching out to lawmakers in Harrisburg as well. <\/p>\n She did not elaborate on that. <\/p>\n Download the FREE WPXI News app<\/a> for breaking news alerts.<\/p>\n Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook<\/a> and Twitter<\/a>. | Watch WPXI NOW<\/a><\/p>\n TOP STORIES FROM CHANNEL 11 NEWS <\/p>\n \u00a92026 Cox Media Group<\/p>\n