The city of Pittsburgh faces a "looming financial crisis," mayoral challenger Patrick Dowd said yesterday, critiquing Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's budgeting and launching what he called "a conversation about what needs to happen here in the city" leading into the May 19 Democratic primary.

"I've spent a lot of time talking to people," he said of his 14 months on council and his week-old mayoral bid. "People are worried about what's happening with the city. I don't know that people are fully aware of what's going on with the budget."

In criticizing the city's finances, Mr. Dowd goes after Mr. Ravenstahl in an area that the incumbent probably considers a relative strength. The city, which was nearly bankrupt in 2004, finished 2007 with $89.5 million in its savings account, and estimates are that it took in $30 million more than it spent last year.

Mr. Ravenstahl also hasn't issued any new debt since taking office in September 2006, instead paying for the city's capital improvements using surplus funds.

But Mr. Dowd said the city is "robbing Peter to pay Paul," manufacturing razor-thin surplus predictions without disclosing how they'll be achieved, and addressing a steadily worsening pension fund's woes with only a "liquidation" of its parking garages.

The five-year fiscal plan approved by council -- which Mr. Dowd voted against -- projects a $3.4 million surplus this year, followed by four years of surpluses averaging just $114,000. "We need to get these things into sustainability, and this budget clearly is not," he said.

He criticized the city's reliance on $8.1 million to $9.6 million a year in payments from its authorities, plus money shifted from the school district on whose board he previously sat, calling that "fleecing these organizations for cash" and likening it to "demanding large monetary gifts from close friends."

"These payments are not new," the Ravenstahl administration noted in a response to e-mailed questions. "If these payments were eliminated, the additional burden would fall on the taxpayers of our city who would be required to subsidize the authority's share of these costs."

The city's pension fund contained $260 million at year's end, just 29 percent of what it ideally should hold to cover obligations to retirees and current workers. That's down from $385 million at the beginning of last year, due to a mixture of stock market losses and $81 million in benefit payments.

Mr. Ravenstahl is exploring the long-term leasing of the city's parking garages to generate hundreds of millions of dollars to shore up the pension fund. A private operator could then control rates.

Mr. Dowd said that's like trying to sell your house to pay your bills.

"We don't sell the things that are valuable," he said. "What we try to do is cut back. We try to say, 'Look, these are tough times, I can't go out to dinner anymore.' "

He promised specifics as the campaign moves on.

He noted that the administration does not seem to want to explore increasing the 3,300 employees' contributions to the pension plan, which totalled $9.8 million last year. "The administration says we need to be moving on all fronts, but that's not a front they're interested in looking at," he said.

Mr. Dowd also criticized the mayor's transfer of $45.3 million into a fund for reducing future debt payments, and the administration's assumption that it will be able to shave $51 million from its payments in 2011 though 2013. The administration hasn't provided any specifics on how it plans to achieve that savings.

The administration said it's working on finishing a debt reduction agreement.

"These are problems that have helped drive me into this race," Mr. Dowd said.