The chairman of the county tourism agency that would benefit from a bill shifting $1.6 million annually in Allegheny County cultural and arts funding said he opposes the legislation and that his board did not lobby state lawmakers for the change.

The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Thomas Petrone, D-Crafton Heights, would require that VisitPittsburgh get 2 percent of the total tax revenues the Allegheny Regional Asset District receives each year.

The RAD money, which is half of what is generated by the county's 1 percent sales tax, is used for libraries, parks, museums, arts groups and other cultural assets; in 2006, its share amounted to about $74 million.

Selling visitors on those very assets is a big part of what VisitPittsburgh does, so undermining their budgets with a 2 percent cut is not in the tourism agency's interest, VisitPittsburgh Chairman Jeffrey Letwin said yesterday,

"If you look at the constituency of the VisitPittsburgh membership, some of our largest partners are the arts communities and the attractions that we sell," he said. "We do not want to alienate that base by going after funds that would otherwise go to them."

Mr. Letwin issued a letter yesterday to the agency's board members, Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato and other local leaders stating his opposition to the bill.

Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, the biggest beneficiary of RAD dollars, would see its funding cut about $335,000 annually under the proposal. That is roughly what it costs to run two small libraries each year, said Karlyn Voss, the library's assistant director of strategy, planning and government relations.

"We appreciate efforts trying to improve tourism, but we have existing assets here like the libraries, the parks, the aviary and the zoo that contribute everyday to the quality of life in the region. Taking away a funding source is really a problem," she said.

The 1 percent sales tax raises about $155 million per year. Half goes to cultural assets and half is used for countywide tax relief.

The biggest cultural beneficiaries in 2006 were the Carnegie Library, with $16.4 million; Allegheny County Regional Parks, $14 million; Allegheny County Library Association, $7.7 million; and Pittsburgh Zoo & PPG Aquarium, $3.1 million. RAD also pays $13.4 million annually in debt service for the North Side stadiums and $2.4 million for capital improvements to Mellon Arena.

The RAD board also issued multiple grants last year of $2,500 to $1 million to small and large cultural groups that applied for funds. Since the larger groups have their asset funding contractually locked in through at least 2009, those smaller recipients would likely see the biggest initial cut under Mr. Petrone's bill.

"We're watching it," Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra spokesman Jim Barthen said of the bill. "We're always concerned if there are less monies available."

Every cultural group that wants RAD money, from the Carnegie Library down to neighborhood theater groups, has to go before the asset district's board annually to argue for funding.

The Petrone legislation would not require VisitPittsburgh to go through that process, meaning "regardless of performance, the agency would continue to receive a set amount of funds, making oversight meaningless," RAD Executive Director David L. Donahoe said in an e-mail yesterday.

Mr. Onorato opposes the bill, according to spokesman Kevin Evanto, and said yesterday: "VisitPittsburgh should apply for RAD funding just like any other group would, on an annual basis."

The bill also would increase the size of the seven-member RAD board by adding voting members named by legislative leaders and the governor. Currently, the county chief executive and Pittsburgh's mayor name six voting members, who choose a seventh.

The House Urban Affairs Committee approved the measure 15-7 last week. It was referred to the House Rules Committee, often a graveyard for legislation, and it may not be taken up by the full House this session.

Ms. Voss said no lawmakers had notified library officials of the bill, and Mr. Letwin said he did not know where it came from. either.

"Our position is, we didn't suggest this legislation or lobby for it in any fashion. We see RAD monies as being under the purview of the county executive and the mayor. We wouldn't want to step on any toes," Mr. Letwin said.

State Rep. Dan Frankel, D-Squirrel Hill, a VisitPittsburgh board member, said the bill was initially pitched to local lawmakers as a way to help the tourism agency -- not to redirect RAD funds.

"I adamantly do not believe in opening up the Pandora's box of the RAD board," he said. "For many organizations, it is an umbilical cord of life-sustaining funds that they need."

Pennsylvania's government support of libraries is ranked 43rd in the country, according to the Pennsylvania Library Association, largely because of subpar local funding.

Before the state approved the asset district tax in 1993, funding for area libraries and parks came largely from the fiscally challenged operating budgets of Pittsburgh and Allegheny County. RAD took over that support, while also cutting the city's former 10 percent amusement tax in half and eliminating the county's personal property tax.

A recent Rand Corp. study on arts funding in major U.S. metropolitan areas found RAD to be one of the best government funding sources for arts in the country, trailing only Denver's Scientific and Cultural Facilities District in annual support.

Local and state lawmakers have been circling like vultures for years over RAD's growing pool of sales tax revenues -- in some cases, successfully. They got $13.4 million annually for the Plan B stadium package that helped finance construction of both Heinz Field and PNC Park and the $2 million this year to plug the David L. Lawrence Convention Center deficit. But they have been unsuccessful in recent talks on using it for transit funding.

After RAD was approved in 1993, Philadelphia failed to get authorization for its own version, called the Southeastern Pennsylvania Regional Cultural and Scientific District. And the tenor of the General Assembly toward such initiatives has largely turned negative, according to the Rand study done in March.