In a campaign quest promising to cut the property tax in Baltimore City, at least one mayoral challenger has taken steps toward identifying options.

Baltimore City Sen. Catherine Pugh, D-District 40, a candidate for Baltimore mayor, announced Friday the formation of a blue ribbon commission tasked with exploring options to slash taxes by 50 percent over the next four years.

WBAL-TV 11 News reporter David Collins said Pugh held a sidewalk summit Friday to discuss reducing the city's property tax rate. Pugh huddled with the top members of a team she is still assembling and on whom she will count to come up with a plan.

"I'm saying to the folks of Baltimore, this property tax (reduction) is going to take place during my first term in office because if I don't do what I say I'm going to do, then don't re-elect me," Pugh said.

Pugh picked media and business consultant Dorothy Brunson and businessman Scott Donahoo to lead her property tax reduction commission.

"I've been in business for 50 years. I've run major million-dollar companies. I'm very sure I know that we can reduce these taxes," Brunson said.

"We all share the same vision. We know what's needed to create jobs in Baltimore, to end the vacant housing blight, to bring business back and build our population and tax base," Donahoo said.

As a member of the City Council from 1999 to 2004, Pugh had the opportunity to address the property tax rate. As a state senator representing the city, she could have introduced legislation putting together a study commission or called upon experts herself to be part of an informal panel.

"The legislative seats do not translate well because legislators are deliberative persons who pass state law, whereas the mayor is an executive who runs the city government," said political analyst Don Norris, director of the Maryland Institute for Policy Analysis and Research at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County.

Incumbent Democratic Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake declined to be interviewed. Earlier in the week, she had a tentative response to her opponents' plans to reduce taxes.

The city's property tax rate has hovered around 2.27 percent -- nearly double that of surrounding jurisdictions -- since the 1970s.

For the past 35 years, City Hall has resisted discussing property tax reductions. Critics contend it's easier to hand out tax breaks to developers than to deal with the issue, Collins said.

"I think anyone who runs on a campaign promise to reducing the property tax is suspect and will have to come up with really hard answers about how they are going to replace the money," Norris said.

Cutting the property tax by 50 percent leaves a $400 million hole. None of the announced mayoral candidates have detailed how they'll fill the gap.

Former city planner Otis Rolley said he wants to cut the rate by 50 percent over 10 years, relying, in part, on savings through reducing the size of government and making it more efficient.

Former City Councilman Jody Landers said he considers a 25 to 30 percent cut more realistic, saying part of the solution is charging a lower rate to occupied properties and a much higher one to owners of vacant blighted properties.

Councilman Carl Stokes, D-District 12, introduced legislation in March that would allow voters to decide whether they want to amend the City Charter requiring a reduction.

Stokes released a statement Friday evening in response to Pugh's announcement earlier in the day, stating, "Baltimore City's property tax rate is the highest in the state. My plan is to reduce the property tax rate 1.1 percent over the next five years. Baltimore's high property tax rate has become a major deterrent to living in the city. Over the last decade we lost more than 30,000 residents and are the only jurisdiction in the state to lose population largely because of crime, a poor education system and enormous property taxes. The loss of Baltimore's population has been on a 6 decade trend."

The statement continued, "I think it is admirable to conduct a study to look at the issue, but it is not necessary. I have done the homework, studied the issue and realize that it's time to take action. I have met with Loyola University Maryland economist Stephen J.K. Walters, who theorized that a sharp drop in property taxes would lead to population inflows and an eventual increase in revenues for the city. I have also had consultation with real estate experts, business leaders and homeowners who agree that my plan is economically viable and sound. I welcome the fact that some of my colleagues in the council and other elected officials are beginning to see the light and join my fight."

Rawlings-Blake released late Friday a report of her own that finds reducing the property tax by as much as 50 percent would require more than an 80 percent increase in the city's population, Collins reported.

A hearing for Stokes' legislation is scheduled June 28 at 5 p.m. at City Hall.