Pittsburgh City Council may postpone a vote set for today on a controversial tuition tax proposal, in hopes that a meeting Friday with the Pittsburgh Council on Higher Education might lead to an agreement on better town-gown collaboration.

City leaders and academic officials yesterday scrambled to avoid a divisive vote on Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's proposed 1 percent levy on tuition, and last night were discussing an arrangement in which the tax would be put on the back burner, discussions toward voluntary payments would begin, and the city and schools would go to Harrisburg to push for new revenue.

Pittsburgh Councilwoman Theresa Smith confirmed that the Council on Higher Education, the umbrella group of post-secondary schools, has agreed to a meeting.

Publicly, the mayor and a university leader stuck to tough stances.

"We need $15 million each year, and we're going to continue to push forward for the Fair Share Tax," said Mr. Ravenstahl, using the name for the levy that his administration coined because it argues that everyone, including the higher education community, should help pay for city services.

"We're focusing our attention right now on getting [the tuition tax] off the table," said Mary Hines, president of Carlow University and chair of the Pittsburgh Council on Higher Education. There won't be any agreements, concessions or negotiations while that tax proposal is in play, she said.

On the fifth floor of the City-County Building yesterday, higher education officials, students, council members and administration members moved frequently between council's suite, the mayor's office, and Council Chambers, where a meeting on revenue was held. Student leaders and council members held out hope that voluntary payments and an effort to push the Legislature for new revenue could take the tax off the table.

Students at a Monday public hearing repeatedly called for payment talks and a joint approach to Harrisburg that might focus on boosting the $52-a-year tax on those who work within the city's borders. Council members said yesterday that they're interested in those alternatives to the tax.

"We continue to have dialogue with college presidents and chancellors to find alternative ways to fill that $15 million hole," the mayor said, referring to the revenue the administration believes it needs to right a listing pension fund. "It's irresponsible for one to say that the Fair Share Tax is no good, but not to supply a viable alternative."

Council Finance Chair William Peduto said he'll motion to table the tax legislation, which take the tax off of council's agenda indefinitely.

"The policy itself is regressive," said Mr. Peduto. ""We need to end it [today] and rebuild the bridges we have burned to the nonprofit community."

Last month, the state-picked Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority forced the city to take revenue from the proposed tuition tax out of the 2010 budget. Yesterday, the other oversight agency, the Act 47 Recovery Team, wrote to ask city officials for details on a proposed stopgap budget, and to ask them why they haven't accepted an offer from a nonprofit umbrella group.

In late March, the Pittsburgh Public Service Fund offered the city $5.5 million in voluntary donations, covering 2008, 2009 and 2010, from scores of tax-exempt organizations. That was meant to follow $14 million in donations spanning 2005 through 2007.

Council never acted on the $5.5 million offer, which some called an insult. But the Act 47 team wrote that the amount could be the difference between a surplus and a deficit.

Looking for more from the Post-Gazette? Join PG+, our members-only web site. You'll get exclusive sports content, opinion, financial information, discounts from retailers and restaurants, and more. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.