Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl wants to help residents pay for appraisals they could use to appeal new property assessments.

The mayor today sent legislation to city council requesting $100,000 for the program, modeled after a similar program city officials operated in 2002 after the last round of property assessments.

Mayoral spokeswoman Joanna Doven said the city would vet proposals from credible appraisal companies, negotiate the cost of appraisals and pay half of each resident's bill. She said the program might be limited to residents with current assessments of $150,000 or less but said that's still up in the air.

Ms. Doven said the mayor also wants council to extend the early-payment deadline to March 30 this year. Ordinarily, to receive a 2 percent discount, residents must pay their property taxes by Feb. 10.