Last July we released a report on residency requirements for public sector employees for the County’s largest municipalities and found a mixture of requirements for police and non-uniformed personnel with some required to live within the municipality, some within a certain distance of the municipality, or no requirements at all.  Recall that the City of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh police are still at odds over a change to a state law that dealt with residency requirements for police.

Is Allegheny County facing a test of its residency requirement?  With a few exceptions, if you are employed by the County government you must reside within the borders of Allegheny County.  One does not have to live in the County to apply for employment, but there is a period of a year to establish residency after hiring.  A change was made for staffing needs at the jail for those that provide medical care, and a County Council motion is going to ask the administration to review compliance with the residency requirement.

To be certain it is a big task with the size of the County’s employee headcount.  While the County’s policy has never risen to the level of debate that the Pittsburgh police or even Pittsburgh school teachers have, it will be interesting to see what the County’s reaction will be if it is found that more than just a few employees are found to be in violation.