It's not a perfect solution, but the proposal to create a 10 percent drink tax and a $2-a-day car rental tax to support mass transit in Allegheny County is the most palatable.

Facing both a tight county budget and an opportunity to leverage more state funds for the Port Authority, County Council can't afford to pass up this new option offered by the Legislature.

As an alternative, property owners aren't likely to tolerate a millage increase in the property tax, plus the county, having cut 500 jobs three years ago, with another 200 already on the chopping block for 2008, will not be able to cut further to get out of this predicament.

While the car rental tax will collect dollars from many visitors, the drink tax will fall on local businesses. Restaurants and taverns argue that the tax will make them vulnerable to competition along the border with neighboring counties. But that echoes an argument that proved to be unfounded after Allegheny County adopted the Regional Asset District sales tax of 7 percent in 1993.

Gloom-and-doom claims abounded that retailers in the border zones would lose out to merchants across the line who still had a 6 percent sales tax. It never happened, and the proof is busy shopping corridors like Monroeville, Wexford and Upper St. Clair.

The lesson here is that county Chief Executive Dan Onorato and council must come to grips with the long-term revenue needs of Allegheny County. With assessments frozen so that even creeping growth in real estate values doesn't help the county keep pace with the modest rise in inflation, either new revenue streams or targets for fresh savings must be identified for county services to run smoothly.

Toward that end, council should hold its nose and pass the drink and car rental taxes.