Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato said that instead of using $12 million in excess revenue from the drink and car rental taxes on road and bridge projects, he may just borrow the money.

Ruling in a lawsuit last week, Common Pleas Judge Judith F. Olson said the $12 million surplus could be spent only on the Port Authority, not on roads and bridges. Mr. Onorato yesterday said he plans to give the money to the transit agency for capital improvements in fiscal years 2009 and 2010.

"I'm not going to appeal," Mr. Onorato said of the ruling, which some officials and observers thought would throw the county's 2009 budget out of balance.

Mr. Onorato said that while he disagreed withJudge Olson's ruling, her interpretation of the law was broad enough to allow him to provide the excess revenue to the Port Authority in a way that allows him to save the county money in other areas.

Giving $12 million to the authority for capital improvements frees up money that the county would have borrowed over the two-year period for capital improvements at the transit agency.

The hole created in the budget by Judge Olson's ruling will be tackled in coming months, Mr. Onorato said. County Councilman Charles McCullough, who with three local restaurateurs filed suit against the county last month claiming that spending the excess $12 million on roads and bridges was illegal, said he was glad "we held [Mr. Onorato] to the letter of the law."