Mayor Tom Murphy and Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato plan to form a task force to explore ways to find private funding for a new arena.

The task force is the brainchild of state Rep. Don Walko, who urged Murphy and Onorato in a letter this week to get the ball rolling now before they're faced with a crisis like the Penguins leaving town.

"My fear is, suddenly, the Penguins are going to teeter and threaten to move out of town, then it's going to be a crisis mode," Walko said yesterday. "In a crisis mode, I don't think the interests of the public are best served."

Under Walko's proposal, the task force would look at private funding options for a new arena and possibly recruit investors to help build it.

Walko, D-North Side, is taking his lead from Columbus, Ohio, where private investors raised $150 million for construction of a new arena.

Murphy spokesman Craig Kwiecinski said the mayor and Onorato discussed Walko's idea yesterday and both believed it was "a good one."

He said the two political leaders would be moving to form a committee within the coming weeks to begin work.

The team, which has been pushing for a new building to replace 42-year-old Mellon Arena, welcomed the creation of the task force.

"We're encouraged by any effort to help to come to the financing plan for a new arena. I certainly agree with Rep. Walko that it should be done now before we get into a crisis mode later on," Penguins President Ken Sawyer said.

"If this means they want to address the new arena now in earnest, then that's positive."

Sawyer said the team most likely would be willing to participate on the task force, depending on the level of commitment shown by Murphy and Onorato to its work.

The Penguins have said Mellon Arena, the oldest in the National Hockey League, is inadequate for their needs and that they need a new building if they are to remain in Pittsburgh.

So far, none of the funding proposals advanced locally matches the level of private investment made in Columbus.

The Penguins have embraced a $270 million arena plan proposed by the city-county Sports & Exhibition Authority. It called for a minimum of $63 million in local tax money and another $90 million from the state.

But Onorato, who could not be reached for comment yesterday, has opposed that plan.

He also has ruled out the use of local tax dollars for a new arena.

The Penguins also are hoping that if the state Legislature approves slot machines, some of the revenue will go to help build the new facility.

Edson Arneault, who operates Mountaineer Racetrack and Gaming Resort in Chester, W.Va., also has announced plans for a thoroughbred track in Harrison. If he gets a license for that track and if slots are approved for Pennsylvania tracks, he has said he'd use $60 million in his profits from the track to help the Penguins build a new arena.

Walko said private financing is a must because neither the city, which is near bankruptcy, nor the county is in a position to use local tax dollars.

"We should try to seize this opportunity, but let's face it, we're not going to get any local tax support for it," he said. "So the private sector is going to have to step up."

Sawyer said that one reason there was so much private investment in Columbus is that Nationwide, which contributed 90 percent of the funding, also owned about 100 acres of land around the building, providing an opportunity to make money through the investment.

"It was partly a real estate opportunity and partly a civic gesture," he said.

The other 10 percent came from the Dispatch Co., publisher of Columbus' daily newspaper.

Walko said he is open to using state capital money and potential slot machines revenue for construction of a new arena, but he wants to keep such funding to a minimum.

He also would like the task force to look at other locations for a new arena, including land adjacent to the new David L. Lawrence Convention Center.

"The energy brought in by the Strip, by the Heinz Center, the convention center and the cultural district, I think we must capitalize on it," he said. "This could be part of the way Pittsburgh comes back financially."

Part of the problem with the Strip location is that the land needed for an arena is privately owned, increasing the cost of any proposed venture.