In a sharp rebuke to Mayor Tom Murphy, City Council yesterday rejected his proposed 2004 budget and replaced it with an immediate parking tax increase, job cuts and the continued closure of swimming pools and recreation centers.

Pam Panchak, Post-Gazette Councilman Jim Motznik, who led the opposition to Mayor Murphy's budget, wears rubber boots to yesterday's meeting. "I thought I was out of the sewers, now I'm back in it." Click photo for larger image. Related articles Oversight veto disappoints Orie

A slim majority of five council members booted Murphy's $407 million budget -- which called for large property and wage tax increases on June 1 if there is no state relief by then -- and replaced it with a more austere $387 million package.

Council's budget increases the parking tax from 31 to 36 percent starting tomorrow, and raises it to 50 percent July 1 if the city does not receive a commuter tax via state Act 47 or some other kind of state financial relief.

The plan, which had to be approved by yesterday under city law, contains no other tax increases. Rather, it relies on spending cuts and accounting maneuvers to stay balanced.

All of the city's 32 pools and 19 recreation centers will be closed; about nine current employees will be laid off and more than 100 already vacant jobs will be eliminated; and city agencies such as the Urban Redevelopment Authority and the Pittsburgh Housing Authority will have to boost their payments to the city by up to $9.5 million.

The plan also pushes much personnel spending to the city's capital budget, which is largely funded with bond proceeds and federal grants. It increases revenue estimates from several taxes and counts on savings from Allegheny County cost-sharing plans that are not yet approved.

It also followed Murphy's lead by ending calls for $15 million in concessions from the firefighters union.

Following hundreds of layoffs last year, the city's drop to junk-bond status and its declaration as a distressed city under the state's Act 47 on Monday, yesterday's council vote capped a difficult, tumultuous year and delivered Murphy a sharp slap as he enters his 11th year in office.

He has up to 10 days to approve or veto the budget, and he released a statement saying he needed to study the new budget's impact on city services before doing so. The mayor has line-item veto power, meaning he can approve parts of the budget and reject others.

Six votes are needed to override a veto, or one more vote than the five cast yesterday for the council version. But yesterday was the last day on council for two Murphy allies, Barbara Burns and Tucker Sciulli. On Monday two new members not tied to Murphy, Luke Ravenstahl and Doug Shields, will be sworn in.

If Murphy vetoes some or all of the budget, council could vote to override. Council also is empowered to amend the budget during the first five weeks of the year.

Council began the day deadlocked 4-4 on the mayor's $407 million proposal. Burns, Sciulli, Len Bodack and Sala Udin voted in favor. Alan Hertzberg, Jim Motznik, William Peduto and Gene Ricciardi were against.

That left Twanda Carlisle, who was absent from earlier votes Tuesday, with the deciding vote.

Murphy's plan called for huge wage and property taxes increases June 1, but the mayor had said he hoped they would not be necessary. The increases were to be shelved if the city received a commuter tax through Act 47 or was granted other new aid by the Legislature.

Council was due to vote in the morning, but behind-the-scenes bargaining pushed off voting to the afternoon. During a lunchtime reception for Burns and Sciulli, Murphy walked the council offices lobbying for his proposals -- something Hertzberg said he had never seen in his decade on council.

In the afternoon, seeing that Murphy's budget was failing, Udin and Sciulli offered a compromise to tax-averse colleagues: Murphy would drop the property tax increase and replace it with $38 million in wage taxes on resident and nonresident city workers. Such a tax may or may not be ultimately approved under Act 47.

Carlisle voted with the four other Murphy opponents to reject the compromise, saying the mayor's plan was not based on "real money," and went for spending cuts and higher parking taxes instead.

Udin warned that the cuts in council's plan would be "suicidal" and decimate city services. Sciulli said the cuts would affect up to 100 current jobs, not the nine positions the majority claimed.

Udin said budget-strapped agencies like the Sports & Exhibition Authority would be unable to increase payments by $9.5 million, as called for in the council budget. He said only commuter taxes could equitably balance the budget.

That incensed Motznik, one of the leaders of the council uprising.

Motznik briefly left the Council Chamber and returned wearing a pair of bright yellow, knee-high rubber boots he used during 14 years as a Public Works laborer. The Overbrook councilman said it was "ludicrous" to balance the budget on commuter taxes that are not yet approved, then swung his right foot onto his desk with a thud.

"It's a bunch of crap," Motznik said. "I ran back and got my sewer boots, and I thought I was out of the sewers. Now I'm back in it."

Motznik and others said if the city receives new taxes through Act 47 or other state means, some of the dismissed workers and services cut in council's budget could be restored. Until then, he said, the budget has to be based on "real" money and cuts.

"It's real. It's tangible. These are real numbers," Carlisle said, explaining her balance-tipping vote for the council version.