Pittsburgh City Council President Darlene Harris has floated yet another possibility for addressing the city pension crisis -- taking out life insurance policies on anyone vested in the fund and using the proceeds to pay down some of the $700 million in unfunded liabilities.

Mrs. Harris hasn't yet introduced legislation for the plan and said it's just one more option for city officials to consider as they face a year-end deadline for shoring up the pension fund or ceding control of it to the state.

She said the plan would be similar to "dead peasant" insurance, a controversial practice in which an employer takes out a policy on the employee, often without saying so. If the employee dies, the employer receives a payout.

Under the plan Mrs. Harris is circulating, the city would work with a corporate partner.

That entity would provide an up-front payment, which would be allocated to the pension fund. The corporate partner and the pension fund would split future payouts from the life insurance policies.

The idea is the most offbeat of several that have been floated to shore up a pension fund that's now 27.5 percent funded and destined for state takeover if it isn't 50 percent funded by Dec. 31.

At least $220 million is needed to avoid the takeover. Mrs. Harris said she isn't sure how much a life insurance program could generate up front.

"We haven't gotten that far yet," she said.

Mrs. Harris acknowledged that the idea "sounds a little gory." But she said she's throwing it out there as one more idea for her colleagues and Mayor Luke Ravenstahl to consider.

"We wouldn't have to lease anything," she said. "We wouldn't have to take out a bond."

Council voted down Mr. Ravenstahl's proposal to lease city and parking authority properties to private investors for 50 years. He wanted to use at least $220 million of the $452 million of lease proceeds to avert a takeover.

Council then adopted a plan to sell its share of parking properties to the parking authority for $220 million, with the aim of funneling that money to the pension fund. However, that plan stalled when the parking authority declined to study it and Mr. Ravenstahl said he opposed it.

Council has debated various other ideas, such as floating a pension bond, for addressing the crisis. However, council and Mr. Ravenstahl are at a stalemate.

Mr. Ravenstahl has said a takeover would lead to skyrocketing pension payments requiring draconian tax hikes and service cuts. Some council members say there's no reason to panic because the higher payments wouldn't begin until about 2015, leaving plenty of time to come up with an infusion of cash that would moderate future obligations.

Councilman Ricky Burgess, the only council member who supported the mayor's lease plan, declined comment on the life insurance idea Wednesday. Mr. Ravenstahl said he wasn't enamored of the concept.