Pittsburgh Council members emerged yesterday from a closed-door meeting on a 300-page fiscal fix with something of a consensus: The plan must change.

Potential tax increases, stunted police wages and a continued staffing squeeze in a sequel to the city's 5-year-old recovery plan aren't flying with some members, and today's 1:30 p.m. public hearing could provide a platform for unions and others with objections, even as a June 30 deadline approaches.

"I'm not about to raise taxes on residents," said Councilwoman Darlene Harris. "I'm not going to see another firehouse closed," she added, and the plan had better get "the weeds cut and the garbage picked up."

The old plan, crafted by a recovery team picked by the state under Act 47 for distressed municipalities, turned deficits into surpluses. The new one purports to address grinding problems, like a pension fund that's now $647 million short, but raises the possibility of tax hikes on people who work in the city, nonprofit institutions or, as a last resort, city businesses and residents.

Council must vote on it, and can't change the plan without the Act 47 team's consent.

Councilman Patrick Dowd sent a letter to the Act 47 team yesterday, saying he can't support the plan in part because it could lead to "tax and fee increases on local businesses only."

Act 47 team co-leader Dean Kaplan sought to downplay that possibility yesterday.

The plan demands that the city put at least $10 million more than usual into its troubled pension fund, with "sufficient tax increases" as a last resort. Preferred options for finding $10 million include spending cuts, a boost in the $52-a-year tax on people who work in the city, and Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's bid to lease the city's parking garages to raise pension cash.

"We actually don't think it's very likely that a well-operated government with cooperation between council and the mayor will have to resort to a tax increase," Mr. Kaplan said.

Key to holding down costs is a plan to freeze wages in 2010 but award city workers a compensatory $1,000 bonus, and then allow salary increases of 2 to 3 percent through 2014.

That slow growth could speed the exodus of seasoned police to suburban departments, said Councilwoman Theresa Smith. "We need to sit down with the unions and find some middle ground here," she said.

Mr. Kaplan defended the raise caps. "The departures [from the Police Bureau] have not been significant yet, and we have had several years where [raises have] beaten inflation," he said.

Most city labor contracts, including those with police and firefighters, expire at the end of this year. Mr. Kaplan said that state law requires that the city make a contract offer to its uniformed employees by early July, and a plan should be in place before that happens.

Council President Doug Shields said that if there's no plan in place when police and firefighter negotiations start next month, then any effort to impose the plan's terms on those unions could lead to litigation.

Council members don't like a part of the plan that would compel the city to get $6 million a year from tax-exempt institutions such as hospitals and universities without saying how it will pry that money loose. A consortium of institutions has offered the city $5.5 million -- over three years.

Ms. Harris wants the state overseers to study the costs of police, fire, medic and public works services to the big tax-exempt institutions, and then charge them fees.

The closed-door meeting, allowed under state law because personnel and collective bargaining were discussed, "got a little heated," said Councilman Bruce Kraus. That's because council is frustrated with its inability to get things done with a diminished city workforce. He said he has had to resort to marshalling volunteers to do things like remove tons of trash from illegal dump sites in Knoxville.

Council Finance Chair William Peduto said he doesn't want to hear council members dismiss the plan "without offering any alternatives," and faulted the mayor for staying on the sidelines.

"There's been no leadership from the mayor at all," he said.

Mr. Ravenstahl in May endorsed the concept of boosting the $52-a-year tax to $145, taxing the payrolls of nonprofit institutions and canceling a state-ordered parking tax cut -- if the General Assembly approves.

Yesterday, his Finance Director Scott Kunka stopped short of embracing the full plan, saying the mayor wants "refinements" and "revenue enhancements."

If city officials don't approve a plan, the state can withhold most of its grants, said Mr. Kaplan. "I'm an optimist, so I think we'll be able to come up with a workable plan that meets everybody's needs" and wins a council majority, he said.