After brief debate, Pittsburgh City Council yesterday held off plans to vote on a property tax increase so it can weigh it with other budget-balancing bills at the end of the month.

Council finance chairman Sala Udin on Tuesday proposed raising city property taxes 0.7 mills, which is the same amount the Pittsburgh Public Schools was set to lower their property taxes next year.

Even though that would raise city taxes from 10.8 to 11.5 mills, Udin and others called the increase a "tax swap," not a tax increase, since city property owners would still be paying the same amount of city and school property taxes next year as they did in 2003.

A court decision required the school district to lower its excess real estate revenues by $8.5 million, forcing the district to lower its tax rate by 0.7 mills in its preliminary $529.5 million budget, which was unveiled Nov. 12.

But school officials last night adjusted that tax reduction to 0.61 mills after learning from city officials yesterday that about 800 city property assessments still have not been fully processed.

By raising city government taxes, the city can capture its own $8.5 million to help fill the $42 million hole in Mayor Tom Murphy's 2004 budget proposal.

"This is a swap, where council fills the vacuum," Udin said.

"It's a swap. It's not raising city taxes," agreed councilman William Peduto.

Others weren't so sure. "We can call it a swap or not a swap. . . . In reality, we're raising property taxes," Councilman Jim Motznik said.

Others who said they might support the tax increase still said they would like to weigh it while considering other options to balance the 2004 budget, such as commuter, parking, amusement, realty and other taxes, as well as spending cuts.

Council is set to vote on those budget proposals the last three days of this month.

The city charter requires the city to approve a balanced budget by the end of the year.