Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato has bet his 2008 budget on County Council adopting new taxes on alcoholic drinks and car rentals to fund mass transit.

It's not a sure thing.

No one, including Mr. Onorato, thinks taxing alcohol and car rentals is the best tax, but he noted the new taxes are the county's only option for raising money outside of the real estate taxes and that the two taxes were the only options the state Legislature would allow the county to adopt.

"My guess is the only reason it survived is that Philadelphia has the same two taxes," he told council during his budget address Tuesday. Mr. Onorato had given the Legislature a laundry list of possible additional taxes the county could use -- instead of real estate taxes -- to raise the $30 million subsidy for Port Authority.

Council needs a two-thirds majority to adopt the taxes, which in Mr. Onorato's budget would be imposed at maximums of 10 percent on drinks and $2 a day on car rentals.

Four Republicans came out Tuesday before the budget address against adding new taxes and the Democrats, who make up two-thirds of the 15-member council, have given tepid support at best.

Outside of council, the hospitality industry is coalescing its campaign against the new taxes, which has so far included petition drives and a rally at the first public hearing on the taxes. This week they formed a group to lobby council against the drink tax called FACT for Friends Against Counterproductive Taxation.

Republican Councilwoman Susan Caldwell of Plum said she would support a budget that includes a 5 percent cut in county spending and no new taxes.

Mr. Onorato's budget calls for eliminating 200 jobs through buyouts and layoffs while still imposing the new taxes and increasing spending by $9.6 million. County spokesman Kevin Evanto said that in the last 12 years, there have been 1,500 people cut from the county's payroll if federal and state money is not included. Mr. Onorato's proposed cuts would bring the payroll down to 5,300 workers.

Over 12 years, that amounts to a $75 million annual savings based on $50,000 for an employee for salary and benefits. Mr. Evanto also noted there was a decline of 22 percent in county government employees while the population decreased by 9 percent.

Mr. Evanto also released figures that showed that in 2008 the county population, if it continues to decline at the same rate, will have declined by 4 percent since the beginning of Mr. Onorato's administration while county government employment, if the 200 jobs are cut, will have dropped by 10.7 percent.

"[Ms. Caldwell's] whole thing that we should cut the cost of county government is beyond ridiculous," Mr. Evanto said.

Mr. Onorato supported his argument about the need for new taxes to support mass transit by researching how other cities pay for their systems.

He listed nine cities -- Atlanta, Boston, Cleveland, Dallas, Phoenix, Portland, Miami, Seattle and San Francisco -- and noted that they are all viewed as progressive and all have taxes for transit other than property taxes.

Atlanta, Boston and Cleveland all dedicate a 1 percent sales tax to transit.

In San Francisco it is a 1.05 percent sales tax with additional money from the state gas tax and parking tax.

The other cities also have sales taxes of varying degrees dedicated to transit, with Phoenix also receiving funding from Arizona's share of the Powerball Lottery.

"Every other urban area in America has figured out that property taxes do not work as a revenue source for mass transit," he said.

After the budget address, without endorsing the specific taxes, Councilman Jim Burn, D-Millvale, vowed that he would not vote for a budget that uses real estate taxes to pay for transit.

"It's going to be an interesting process," Council President Rich Fitzgerald, D-Squirrel Hill, said. about adopting next year's budget.

He said the adoption of the taxes "may be the best of the not-positive alternatives."

Mr. Fitzgerald said the alternatives to cover the nearly $30 million that the two new taxes would bring in would be raising property taxes by half a millage point to 5.1 mills, or cutting the county payroll by 70 to 100 people more than Mr. Onorato already has proposed.

If further cuts were required in county spending, he said, some offices might have to close on certain days a week or the county might have to close parks, skip road paving projects or not repair bridges.

Once the other council members have a sense of the financial problems faced by the county, Mr. Fitzgerald said he is hoping the new taxes are adopted by 12 or 13 votes instead of the 10 that they need.

"[Tuesday] was the first step in the budget process," he said yesterday. "I would just encourage everyone now to keep an open mind and look at the numbers."