Mayor Tom Murphy submitted his final city budget yesterday, pinning Pittsburgh's hopes for fiscal stability on deep savings in the Fire Bureau and a hiring freeze almost everywhere else.

Murphy said city residents will feel the pain in multiple, small ways, as perhaps 150 positions are left vacant. "I don't know that the city can sustain 125 or 150 fewer jobs," he said. Residents will notice it "around public works issues, grass cutting, street repairs, that kind of thing."

The budget includes two fewer swimming pools than the 14 the city opened this year. They earn a maximum of $12,700 annually.

Also absent is any funding for the school district's 140 crossing guards after June.

No tax increases are proposed.

The plan includes a $415.2 million operating budget, plus $44.5 million in proposed capital spending. The 504-page document will no doubt be adjusted by state-appointed overseers and City Council before final passage by year's end.

Murphy noted that the barely balanced budget is $15 million less than the city and its overseers had contemplated when they put together a five-year plan late last year. That's in part because delays in the process of approving new slot machine parlors prompted him to cut $3.8 million in gambling-related revenue from the budget.

If the budget is to remain in the black, notoriously unpredictable Fire Bureau spending must be brought under control.

Fire protection is budgeted at $43 million, down $8.75 million from this year's projected spending. The bureau spent $60.4 million last year.

The savings depend on the retirements of hundreds of experienced firefighters, and their replacement with rookies earning little more than half as much.

Retirements already have started, and 64 recruits start training next week. The bureau has kept trucks manned only by paying veterans $1 million a month in overtime.

Next year, under the budget, the department would have to keep 24 stations staffed while spending just $640,000 a month on overtime.

"It's tough," Murphy said of the fire plan.

"He's out of his mind," countered Fire Fighters Local 1 President Joe King.

The budget was delivered to the Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority, appointed by the state to force the city to budget responsibly.

"I'm looking for projections that have a basis in fact, and are not wishful thinking," said authority Chairman John Murray. At a glance, the Fire Bureau savings look realistic, he said.

The authority will meet Tuesday to question Murphy on the plan.

The plan also calls for building new fire stations and closing old ones, at a cost of $2.2 million over the next three years.

Absent from the budget is any savings from controversial privatization efforts the city has halfheartedly pursued.

The city has talked with local hospitals about taking over Emergency Medical Services, but the budget includes $12.7 million for paramedics.

The budget mentions competitive bidding on one-third of its trash collection routes, but it doesn't count on any savings.

Murphy would borrow $25 million for new equipment and neighborhood improvements, boosting annual debt payments by about $2.5 million to $93.5 million and making debt the second-biggest item in the budget.

The largest category of spending is $122.7 million slated for pensions, health insurance and workers' compensation. Murphy said he hoped a future administration would work with legislators to reform state pension aid formulas and perhaps combine the city's health care plan with the state's.

A freeze on hiring employees other than police, firefighters and paramedics could make it difficult for the next mayor to pursue priorities.

Neither major party mayoral candidate had seen the budget yesterday. Both were presented with a two-page summary crafted by Murphy.

"It's tremendous that we have a proposed budget this early," said Democratic nominee Bob O'Connor, in a statement. "It provides ample time for its review and serious consideration."

Republican mayoral nominee Joseph Weinroth said he'd prefer the city spend little on development "and try to put that in private hands," said James Burnham, an adviser to the candidate and professor of global competitiveness at Duquesne University.

Murphy said his 12th and final spending plan, after many tumultuous budget battles, leaves the city reasonably stable.

"There always are land mines that you are going to hit during the year, kind of like the gas prices this year, that are not really predictable," he said. "I think this budget can end up in the black at the end of this year."

A budget must be adopted by Dec. 31.