Pittsburgh City Council postponed a planned vote on a controversial tuition tax proposal yesterday in hopes of sparking talks with universities. The schools, though, suggested a postponement might not be enough.

"We cannot have conversation that will actually accomplish finding meaningful solutions as long as the tuition tax is still alive," said Mary Hines, chairwoman of the Pittsburgh Council on Higher Education, or PCHE, board and president of Carlow University. "Nothing constructive can happen until this destructive legislation is rejected."

By a 7-2 vote, council opted not to reject the 1 percent tuition tax, but instead to put it on hold for one week. Councilwoman Theresa Smith scheduled meetings tomorrow between council members and PCHE.

"Saying that we want to hold this [bill for] one week is meeting them half-way," she said. Rejecting the bill, she and a majority of members argued, would take away any pressure that the schools now face to negotiate toward what the administration and a council majority wants -- voluntary payments and a joint town-gown approach to Harrisburg for enhanced revenue.

Dr. Hines said she will attend at least one of a string of Friday meetings. "But we are not considering this meeting, at all, a negotiating session," she said. "We see it as a listening opportunity, for them to listen to us, and us to listen to them."

Council President Doug Shields and Councilman William Peduto said a postponement wouldn't rebuild the burned bridges between the city and its large academic institutions.

"Who in their right mind would negotiate with someone who has a gun to their head -- especially when they have a bigger gun?" Mr. Peduto asked. The universities have indicated they will sue to stop collection of any tuition tax, and state Rep. Paul Costa, a Point Park University trustee, has said he will introduce legislation outlawing such levies.

Council's vote to delay came between an exchange of tentative olive branches between University of Pittsburgh Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg, who strongly opposes the tax, and Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, who introduced it.

Mr. Nordenberg wrote to the mayor, urging him to "please remove [the tax] proposal from the council's agenda so that others can join forces with you in finding, shaping and securing a better way" to cover "devastating" pension problems the city faces. He suggested that the schools might help the city push for a boost in the $52-a-year tax paid by all of those who work in the city.

Mr. Ravenstahl has sought, unsuccessfully, to revive a failed 2004 bid to get that tax raised to $144 a year.

The mayor later issued a statement saying he's "grateful for Chancellor Nordenberg's leadership and willingness to discuss Pittsburgh's need for new revenue" and welcoming talks. "However, if they do not result in new revenues for the city, I, along with the majority of members of city council, am prepared to enact the Fair Share Tax" -- his term for the tuition levy.

Dr. Hines said that nixing the tuition tax could provide "an opportunity to reassess the city's situation, and I think higher education is not the only segment that should be represented in such a dialogue." She said the education sector could bring in economic experts who might help find "structural solutions" to the city's chronic revenue needs.

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