Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato will present his 2009 budget to County Council this evening, calling for a reduction in the 10 percent drink tax and no increase in real estate taxes.

For the most part, Mr. Onorato still sees the county's financial picture much the way he did when he implemented the levy in January, along with a $2-a-day tax on rental cars, to provide a dedicated revenue stream for the county's $30 million subsidy for mass transit.

Because the first-year drink tax collections have been higher than expected, Mr. Onorato has proposed cutting the tax to 7 percent.

But his goal for the rest of the budget remains the same: maintain property taxes at 4.69 mills -- $4.69 for every $1,000 in property value -- for the seventh consecutive year, while using other revenue sources or cutting costs to balance the budget.

Mr. Onorato will take his proposal to council, where some members of his own party have called for a property tax increase and there is some sentiment to cut the drink tax to 5 percent. There also has been a call to increase the homestead exemption by $7,000, which would give homeowners a tax cut.

Councilman William Robinson, D-Hill District, has proposed an increase in real estate taxes from 4.69 mills to 4.92 mills -- $23 more on a property valued at $100,000. He said because of pending court cases on the drink tax and the county's base-year property assessment system -- which could substantially change the county's available revenue -- council is "going to have to take a comprehensive approach in the way we look at the budget."

Mr. Robinson, chairman of council's Budget and Finance Committee, also proposed to reduce the drink tax to 8 percent. He doesn't expect his proposals to get anywhere near approval by his colleagues, the majority of whom are in favor of some kind of reduction in the drink tax only.

"Politically, it always sounds like a good idea to cut taxes. But we have to be realistic in how we will stabilize our revenues. We continue to have a $35 million structural deficit, and so far, no one is proposing how we are going to deal with this," he said.

Councilman Charles McCullough, R-Upper St. Clair, contends that the county ought to either consider a bigger drink tax cut or some kind of property tax relief to homeowners, particularly during a tough economic period nationally.

"I am proposing that we look at this budget as a cafeteria plan for tax relief. We need to have a conversation about what we are going to do with all this excess drink tax revenue," he said, adding that is why he has proposed increasing the homestead exemption from $15,000 to $22,000.

"We ought to be able to afford a plan that will help to keep people in their homes, especially in this economic climate when we see people having a tough time," said Mr. McCullough, who also has proposed reducing the drink tax to 5 percent.

The fact that the tax is exceeding all expectations, however, is not a good enough reason to "come up with tax cut fantasies," council President Rich Fitzgerald said of Mr. McCullough's budget proposal.

"It would be nice to cut every tax. There is an argument to be made for either cutting the drink tax or property taxes, but to say we are going to do it all is fiscally irresponsible," said Mr. Fitzgerald, D-Squirrel Hill.

Mr. Onorato's budget proposal is expected have the support of eight Democrats on the 15-member council, which is enough to pass the budget, but it takes 10 votes to change the tax rate.