Republican mayoral candidate Mark DeSantis pledged yesterday to cut city spending and taxes in a five-year budget plan he said would drop the government's expenses by $193 million by 2012.

The bare-bones plan relies on a hiring freeze, drops in city real estate and wage taxes, a charter amendment capping city spending and a Pittsburgh-Allegheny County government merger, among other ideas.

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl released a $424 million 2008 operating budget last month, marked by a $13 million boost to the city's savings account next year and a five-year freeze on borrowing. That was his second structurally balanced budget in a row, a rarity when dealing with city government's beleaguered finances, his campaign spokeswoman Danika Wukich noted.

"The Ravenstahl Administration is focused on streamlining government and cooperating with our partners to make government more efficient," she said. "To put it simply, we are doing more with less. While some just talk about these things, Mayor Ravenstahl is doing it."

Mr. DeSantis criticized the Democrat's budget, saying it would increase spending while the city's population -- and therefore need for services -- is dropping. He claimed Mr. Ravenstahl's budget would take the city back to the brink of bankruptcy, as it was before a 2004 state bailout.

"We have to come to terms finally with the fact that we are a shrinking city -- we've gotten smaller and we're getting smaller still," Mr. DeSantis said in a news conference at his Downtown campaign office.

" ... There's an irony in the fact that 36 years ago we sought to be a home-rule city, only now to be a ward of the state. We have not proven we are good stewards of our money, so we're going to put it into law that we must be."

The South Side tech firm president wants to adopt a city charter amendment capping city government spending. Under that plan, the city could not grow spending any more than the Consumer Price Index for the Pittsburgh area, plus or minus the percentage change in the city's population. For example, if the CPI grew 2 percent and population dropped 1 percent, spending could grow only 1 percent.

Mr. DeSantis' proposal also includes:

Decreasing city spending in Mr. Ravenstahl's five-year plan by 1 percent annually;

Selling city-owned real estate. Relying on a 2003 study by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy, Mr. DeSantis said the city owns $88 million worth of nongovernment property it could sell to the private market;

Consolidating duplicative city and county services, and pushing a countywide referendum on combining the two governments;

Reducing real estate, wage and payroll taxes by 3 percent each year, starting in 2011. He estimated this to save taxpayers $7.2 million annually, while attracting more residents and businesses to the city;

Cutting spending by the mayor's office in half, saving $500,000 annually;

Instituting a hiring freeze for nonessential city personnel; and

Halving worker's compensation and overtime costs.

The candidates square off Nov. 6 in the race to fill the last two years in the late Mayor Bob O'Connor's term.