Calling it "The Fair Share Tax," Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl today said that if Pittsburgh City Council agrees to slap a 1 percent levy on college tuition bills, "our financial recovery will be complete."

Making his 2010 budget presentation to a packed Council Chamber today, Mr. Ravenstahl said his administration has already stopped the "credit-card" borrowing that got Pittsburgh into financial distress under state Act 47, cutting the city's debt by 15 percent. The city's gaping pension shortfall, though, remains.

Next year he wants to lease the city's public parking garages in hopes of raising $200 million for the pension fund, which holds around one-third of the $899 million it should have to cover future obligations.

"Leasing the city's parking facilities is an option that makes sense, and it makes the most sense," he said.

There has been little public comment on the proposal, and council members are seeking a role.

"Over the course of the next four months, members of my administration, and the Parking Authority, will meet with business owners, council members, neighborhood business district managers" and others with concerns about parking rates.

Even if a garage lease raises $200 million, he said, the city needs to boost its annual contribution to the pension fund by $15 million a year.

"I refuse to raise taxes that fall on already overburdened residents, small businesses, and property owners," he said. So he's looking to the approximately 100,000 students who go to colleges and universities in the city.

"We can no longer afford to provide city services to those who are not paying their fair share," he said, adding that the levy is "something I wish I didn't have to do."

University of Pittsburgh students would pay $135 a year, he said. "That's less than one-tenth of what Councilman [William] Peduto pays in property and wage taxes."

Community College of Allegheny County students who attend the North side campus would each generate $27 each year, he said.

While most city colleges and universities reserved comment until a planned news conference of the Pittsburgh Council on Higher Education at 10 a.m. Wednesday, the University of Pittsburgh issued a statement three hours after the mayor's budget presentation.

"While we understand the challenges the city faces in raising revenues to achieve a balanced budget, the University of Pittsburgh will vigorously oppose any attempt to impose a service or privilege fee on our undergraduate and graduate students," the statement read, in part.

"Pitt annually makes nearly $4.5 million in direct tax payments to the city and the city of Pittsburgh Public Schools, including $1.45 million in real estate taxes for 'non-educational' Pitt-owned properties as well as for leased offices and facilities, plus $1.64 million in parking taxes and $586,000 in amusement taxes."

Pitt also noted that it has a campus police force that also works special events like the G-20 summit, large sporting events and parades, and which costs more than $3.6 million a year. Pitt wants voluntary payments by tax-exempt institutions to continue, instead of a tuition tax.

"Through all of our current avenues of direct and indirect support to the city, we do believe we are paying our fair share for city operations," the statement concluded.

The tax is expected to generate $16 million, leaving $1 million for the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh system, providing it cancels planned branch closings and tightens its belt, he said.

"If you approve this budget, in 2010, I will ask you to join me in petitioning Gov. [Ed] Rendell to remove Pittsburgh from Act 47 distressed status," Mr. Ravenstahl said.

The library system issued a statement this morning in which it said it would "work collaboratively" with the city and others proposing ways to generate long-term funding to sustain the system.

More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

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