After hearing arguments yesterday, a judge will decide how Allegheny County can spend its excess revenue from the drink tax.

Common Pleas Judge Judith F. Olson said she will take time to review the issue before deciding whether to stop the county from spending the extra funds on roads and bridges. The county agreed not to spend the disputed money until she rules.

The county expects to collect about $44 million from the drink and car rental taxes this year, well more than the $27 million needed for the county's subsidy of the Port Authority.

Because of the large haul, county officials reduced the drink tax from 10 to 7 percent as part of the 2009 budget. The budget also dedicates $12 million of the drink tax receipts to debt service on road and bridge projects.

Councilman Charles McCullough, R-Upper St. Clair, and several local restaurateurs who have vociferously opposed the drink tax filed a lawsuit claiming that the levy was designed only for the Port Authority. That would make the planned expenditures illegal, they said.

The state Legislature's Act 44 states that drink tax revenues must be for "financial support for transit systems."

County Solicitor Mike Wojcik argued that if the Legislature meant the Port Authority specifically, it would have said so, and bridges and roads can be defined as transit-related.

Mr. McCullough and attorney Ronald Barber -- who represents restaurateurs Kevin Joyce, Sean Casey and John Graff -- contended that the term "transit systems" is defined only as public transit organizations such as the Port Authority. Mr. McCullough offered examples of the Legislature and other state officials using the terms interchangeably.

"The county is doing a classic tax-and-spend," Mr. McCullough said. "They got a windfall and they're going to take advantage of that any which way they can."

In addition to the $12 million targeted for debt service on road and bridge projects, the plaintiffs are challenging the county's planned use of about $9 million for Port Authority debt service in 2008 and '09 because it's not going directly to the matching fund.

County budget director Amy Griser testified that a $21 million hole in the budget would wipe out the county's fund balance and make it more difficult and costly for it to borrow money.

In an interview after the hearing, Council President Rich Fitzgerald, a Democrat, said that if Mr. McCullough and his allies win the suit, it would amount to a "straitjacket" on county spending and force a property tax hike to fund crucial infrastructure improvements.