A meeting between Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato and members of Pittsburgh City Council today did nothing to alleviate concerns about expenses related to the G-20 Summit.

In fact, it made them worse.

Mr. Onorato's spokesman, Kevin Evanto, said after the meeting that there is about an $8 million gap in funding that will have to be evenly split between the city and the county. He said that this morning's meeting came about because of a misconception by City Council members in recent weeks.

"There was some frustration from City Council. It seems that they didn't understand the full scale of reimbursement and how it would work," said Mr. Evanto.

"We both have costs that we have to go out and take care. We both have a funding gap and yet City Council on Friday thought they were bearing all those costs and that is not the case."

So far, Mr. Evanto said, both the city and county have received about $16.9 million in funding commitments for public safety, contracted police, and a special insurance policy for police brought in from other jurisdictions. Of that, $10 million will come from the federal government for security; $3.5 million from the state and another $2.5 million from the Department of Homeland Security.

All these awards, Mr. Evanto said, are to be evenly split between the city and the county, except another $900,000 coming from the state specifically for the city.

"I think [City Council members] had an epiphany this morning," he added. "They didn't know what the county had in costs and spending and this meeting was about discussing that."

Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl disputed parts of the county's account.

"There's not an $8 million gap in my mind," he said. "The county suggests that [there] is."

He also said the city needs to "encumber" the $4.3 million state grant, because it is fronting the money to pay for out-of-town police the city is hiring for back-up.

He said he offered Mr. Onorato an arrangement in which the city and county would each put up $8 million toward the $16 million in anticipated public safety costs, but the county executive declined, leaving the city to front the money. As a result, his position is the city has first dibbs on all of the federal and state grant money and will share what's left with the county after all city costs are covered.

Pittsburgh council members -- a few of whom had questioned the county's commitment to paying its share of summit costs at a Friday meeting -- went into the meeting with the same idea but were concerned about what they thought was a $1.7 million shortfall in funding.

Some council members left a closed-door session with Mr. Onorato with the impression that the funding gap was bigger, because expenses are expected to be higher and state aid will be shared with the county.

"We're looking at a gap of not $1.7 million, but approximately $5 million, give or take," said city Councilman Patrick Dowd. He fired off a letter to Mr. Ravenstahl asking why information the administration provided Friday was at odds with what the executive said today.

He said the city and county should craft a "basic framework document" outlining responsibilities and expectations regarding the Sept. 24-25 summit.

Similarly, city Council Finance Chair William Peduto wrote to Mr. Onorato today urging that all "overruns, potential liabilities and shortfalls" be split evenly between the city and county.

His letter said the city and county shared a $5 million gap.