HARRISBURG -- Bankruptcy, with its negative connotations, is a word that most municipal officials try to avoid like the plague.

But Harrisburg City Council, facing $600 million in municipal debt and conflicting solutions about how to get out of its fiscal mess, is willing to take that plunge.

After a 4-3 vote on council Tuesday night, bankruptcy papers were filed Wednesday with U.S. District Court here, seeking protection under Chapter 9 of the federal bankruptcy code.

Council members are hoping for talks with lenders where a considerable amount of the outstanding debt will be reduced, especially the more than $300 million owed for repairs to a faulty municipal incinerator that has plagued the city for years.

Filing for bankruptcy protection "is the only real solution we have" to the financial problems, said City Controller Dan Miller, who has advocated the move for weeks.

But state Sen. Jeffrey Piccola, R-Dauphin, who favors state control over city finances, blasted the filing as "illegal," claiming that state law prohibits third-class cities such as Harrisburg from using bankruptcy. He accused the council majority of engaging in "reckless behavior."

Mayor Linda Thompson also said she thinks the bankruptcy filing is illegal.

But the suburban Philadelphia lawyer retained by the council majority, Mark D. Schwartz, disputed those claims and countered that a state takeover of city finances would be unconstitutional.

"It would be an infringement on the rights of the city," said Mr. Schwartz, who grew up in Forest Hills and once worked as a legislative aide to former House Speaker K. Leroy Irvis. In the 1970s, when New York City faced daunting financial problems, "The state of New York didn't take over the city. In the early 1990s, the state of Pennsylvania didn't take over [debt-ridden] Philadelphia."

He said some state officials, including Gov. Tom Corbett, "want to make sure bond insurers get paid [what they are owed] ahead of police and firefighters and the people of Harrisburg."

Some critics claim the bankruptcy filing could stop the flow of several millions of dollars in state funds to the city, including pension money, economic development funds and reimbursements for fire protection at the Capitol.