The city of Pittsburgh missed out on getting money from a coalition of nonprofit institutions last year, and will get less in the future than it did under a three-year pact that ended in 2007, officials said yesterday.

That means the Pittsburgh Public Service Fund joins state government on the list of recession victims that are shorting the city, which has a healthy bank balance but expects precarious budgets starting next year.

The fund, which has included around 100 medical, educational, charitable and cultural institutions, volunteered nearly $14 million to the city for the years 2005 through 2007 under a unique agreement aimed at helping the city recover from near-bankruptcy. The final payments came in last year, but were meant to satisfy the fund's pledge for 2007.

Months ago, the fund sent the city a draft agreement that would govern another three years of payments, said the Rev. Ron Lengwin, spokesman for the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh and for the fund. If it had been signed last year, the city could have gotten payments, he said.

"We had reason to believe that everyone was OK with that draft," he said. "We're waiting for them to sign the agreement."

City Finance Director Scott Kunka said the administration was waiting for a final dollar figure commitment from the fund. Father Lengwin said the fund can't finalize the number until the pact is signed.

Neither would say what the draft commitment is, but both agreed that it is lower than $14 million.

"Let me say we are disappointed with the amount they are willing to contribute over the next three-year period," said Mr. Kunka.

The draft offer is "months old, so I'm not sure where we're at now," Father Lengwin said. "We've been through a lot of financial crisis."

The economy's plunge has hurt many nonprofit institutions by diluting their investments and sapping their revenues.

The city's long-term plan counts on receiving around $4.3 million annually from nonprofit entities, which includes around $800,000 that is not part of any Pittsburgh Public Service Fund agreement. Any reduction in nonprofit contributions would come on the heels of Gov. Ed Rendell's proposal to cut the state's subsidy to the city from $6 million to $3 million.

That reduction in funding is further complicated by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's decision to withdraw from participating in Public Service Fund. UPMC, formerly the fund's biggest donor, has said it will phase out its participation in light of its $100 million pledge to the Pittsburgh Promise of college aid for city high school graduates.

Last year, the city brought in around $30 million more than it spent, but the surplus is expected to shrink this year, and to be razor-thin next year.

"What we're seeing is any source of revenue that is not guaranteed ... disappearing or lowering," said Council Finance Chair William Peduto. "That's exactly what you see in difficult times."

Mr. Kunka said he's also worried about possible shrinkage in the city's payroll tax "because it is strictly on for-profit businesses, and they are the ones getting hammered at this time." He noted that the city's revenue projections are "conservative."

The state-picked Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority is trying to figure out how the federal stimulus package will affect the city and "playing a wait-and-see game" before reevaluating the city's financial situation, said Executive Director Henry Sciortino.

The city can't tax the property or payrolls of institutions the state considers not-for-profit, exempting them from two of the three biggest city levies. A 2007 city controller's office audit found that eight institutions of higher learning and 14 health-care concerns owned $3 billion in untaxed property, on which they would otherwise have to pay $32 million in property taxes.

The city's prior agreement with the fund barred it from seeking to tax those that were contributingSome council members, though, were talking yesterday about seeking creative ways to tap nonprofit money.

"What do you think of a service fee for those that are utilizing our fire or police [services]?" Councilwoman Darlene Harris asked Mr. Kunka at yesterday's meeting, the second in a series aimed at laying the groundwork for a new financial recovery plan under state Act 47.

City officials recently decided to include dormitories in a new $12-per-unit fee on rental housing. Councilwoman Tonya Payne's bid to exempt dorms has been shelved.