The parking tax in the city of Pittsburgh will drop Jan. 1, but what you pay to park probably won't.

Instead, lot operators plan to put the former tax money toward covering what they say are rising expenses.

That doesn't seem right to Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, who has long opposed the city's 50 percent parking tax and hoped a state-mandated reduction would push down garage and lot rates.

"That's something that was a concern of ours, that the reduction of the tax would simply be a windfall for the operators," the mayor said Friday after lighting the city's holiday tree and launching Light Up Night.

"We have to continue to encourage those operators to lower their rates, because that's really the reason the tax [is being] reduced, to make parking more affordable for people visiting anywhere in the city of Pittsburgh, particularly Downtown."

Just across the street from the tree, a lot charges $22 for anything above 90 minutes of parking. Of that, the operator gets $14.67, while $7.33 -- half of what the operator takes -- goes to the city.

The city's tax rate dips to 45 percent with the new year.

If InterPark, which owns the lot, kept its portion at $14.67, the city's take would drop to $6.60. That's 73 cents less.

But will the operator cut its rate, or just pocket more money? Officials at InterPark could not be reached for comment.

Other lot operators said they have no plans to cut rates.

"We're uncertain about any price reductions," said Merrill Stabile, president of Alco Parking Corp., the city's biggest lot owner and operator.

"I think [the tax cut] will benefit the public in that there will be no price increase," he said. "People might say, 'That's no big deal.' Well, 50 percent to 45 percent is no big deal."

The cut would only reduce a $5 parking tab to $4.85, he said.

The high tax has its roots in a budget crisis and wrangling between then-Mayor Tom Murphy and City Council in 2003 and early 2004. In an effort to pass some city costs on to commuters, they boosted the levy from 31 percent to 50 percent.

Mr. Ravenstahl, then a rookie councilman, tried to stem the increase by instead tapping development funds, but Mr. Murphy vetoed that.

When the state Legislature approved new taxes in late 2004, it included in the bill a requirement that the city cut the tax to 45 percent in 2007, and continue to scale it back until it hits 35 percent in 2010.

"The idea of the decrease would be that they would pass savings on to the consumers," said Mike Edwards, president and chief executive officer of the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership. "We would expect it."

It's not likely to happen.

"As of now, we don't anticipate lowering rates," said Pittsburgh Parking Authority Acting Director David Onorato.

He said he can't afford to cut rates, which cover two-thirds of his budget. The authority expects to earn $32.6 million this fiscal year and spend $34.7 million, covering the difference with money left over from last year.

The lower tax "offsets any increase in costs we face, and also delays any [rate] increase we would otherwise need," he said.

That's disappointing, said Garry Bloch, a Downtown periodontist who drives in from Upper St. Clair, as he retrieved his car from the authority's garage under Piatt Place on Fifth Avenue. "Given the lack of viable businesses in this immediate area, they should be taking advantage of [the tax cut] to attract more people to this area," he said.

The mayor said the authority is "something that's under the control of the city" because he appoints its board of directors. "Hopefully we have the ability to look at the rates and perhaps reduce them," he said, adding that such a move might force private operators to cut rates, too.

To Susan Jergel, who commutes from Cranberry, the authority's rates -- $4.25 for 90 minutes below Piatt Place -- aren't the problem. "They're the lowest around," she said, while strolling from the garage to Pittsburgh Elegance, a boutique she plans to open Dec. 1.

But when that lot fills, she parks at PNC Plaza, owned by Parkway Corp., where anything above 90 minutes costs $20. That garage's owner should pass the tax cut on to consumers, she said, and save her, and her future customers, some money.

Parkway officials said they did not know of any planned rate cut.

"It's incredible how much in parking you pay," Ms. Jergel said, "and it deters people from coming Downtown."