Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's proposed lease of parking meters would increase hourly rates to levels that would harm neighborhood business districts and far surpass rates in similar-sized cities, three council members said Thursday, as council prepares to host public meetings on the plan.

Councilmen Bruce Kraus, Bill Peduto and Doug Shields said Mr. Ravenstahl's lease plan wouldn't guarantee an end to the pension crisis, either, and might make it worse.

Mayoral spokeswoman Joanna Doven said the trio offered "predictable" criticism but no concrete alternative to the mayor's plan amid a rapidly closing window for action.

Mr. Ravenstahl has proposed leasing parking garages and meters to a private party for 50 years, saying the deal at minimum would yield enough to cover about $100 million of parking authority debt and infuse about $200 million into the pension fund.

The fund is less than 30 percent funded now, and the state has threatened to take it over if it isn't 50 percent funded by year's end. Mr. Ravenstahl says the lease proceeds would get the fund to the 50 percent level.

Seven firms have been qualified to bid on the lease, which allows substantial hikes in parking rates to make the deal worth the bidders' while.

The councilmen said the city's current hourly meter rates -- from 50 cents to $2 an hour, depending on neighborhood -- are in line with rates in 23 similar-sized cities, including Richmond, Va., and Baltimore.

They said the proposed rate increases -- hourly rates would range from $1 to $4.50 by 2014 -- would send Pittsburgh rates soaring above those in the comparable markets. They did not provide information on how much, if at all, the other cities' meter rates might rise during the same period.

The councilmen said neighborhood businesses would struggle, and Mr. Peduto singled out Bloomfield, where West Penn Hospital plans to shed 1,500 jobs.

"Who is going to stop and buy a cup of coffee when you have to pay $2 an hour?" Mr. Peduto said.

Even if the city nets $200 million from the lease, that won't solve the pension problem, in part because the money would be invested in an unpredictable stock market, Mr. Shields said. If the market takes a downturn, he said, the value of the pension fund could slip below the 50 percent level again, leaving the city with few options for boosting it a second time.

"If the $200 million goes into a very volatile market and evaporates, what would we sell next? The furniture? The building?" Mr. Shields said.

Even after getting the fund to the 50 percent level, the councilmen noted, the city must find another $15 million to $17 million annually to keep moving toward the 100 percent funding level. Without that sum, which would be paid in addition to current pension contributions of about $45 million annually, lease proceeds wouldn't save the fund, they said.

Council's first public meeting on parking and pensions will be held at 6:30 p.m. Monday in council chambers, Downtown. The mayor has hosted two public meetings and will hold a third at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Greenfield Senior Center.

Ms. Doven noted that state lawmakers sent the mayor a June 29 letter emphasizing that the city must shore up the pension fund by Dec. 31 to avoid a takeover.

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.