URBANA — If the city of Champaign imposes a new 4 percent charge on package liquor this summer, Urbana could be quick to follow, Urbana Mayor Laurel Prussing said on Tuesday.

The proposal to generate new revenue as both cities deal with tight budgets is a joint venture, though Urbana city officials have yet to discuss it in public sessions. Urbana residents who want to avoid paying 4 percent more for their alcohol should keep a close eye on the outcome of the debate in Champaign, where the proposal is growing more contentious.

On Monday night, Champaign officials held an informational session about the tax — which applies to retail liquor sales and not bars — and a few liquor store owners there expressed their disapproval. They said that the city should not target one industry.

But city officials say the revenue is needed to save three jobs at the police department's front desk, where staffers keep the station's doors unlocked at night and protect police officers on the street.

The Champaign City Council has voted 7-2 to give initial support to the tax. Council members will vote again on Tuesday after they hear more details about the specifics of the proposal, and they could give final approval not long after that. If approved, city officials could start collecting the revenue — which they estimate will generate $700,000 annually — sometime during the second half of this summer.

And if the tax is adopted in Champaign, it is likely Urbana residents would start paying more for their liquor, too.

"If they adopt it, I think that's something we would do as well," Prussing said.

City administrators in Urbana have already been discussing the tax with officials in Champaign, she said.

"We always try to work with Champaign because we don't want to put either city at a disadvantage," Prussing said.

Prussing said there is no firm timeline on when Urbana might adopt the tax — it would require city council approval. Budgeters are awaiting the outcome of labor negotiations, which could significantly affect the city's overall financial picture.

Both cities are leaving open the question of what exactly the tax would pay for. Elected officials in Champaign said the new revenue would maintain the jobs of three police front desk staffers, which cost the city $212,000 annually. The nearly $500,000 that would be left over has not been targeted at a specific program, although some have suggested it might go toward maintaining fire protection at its current level.

Prussing said the new revenue that a 4 percent package liquor tax would generate in Urbana is estimated roughly to be $500,000, and she said there is no specific place in the budget where that might go.

"It's kind of a mistake to say you're going to pay for a certain thing with this because our overall problem is a gap between spending and revenue," Prussing said.

Prussing has proposed a budget with $32.6 million in general spending during the next fiscal year, which begins July 1. That is a 0.5 percent increase over the previous budget, mostly due to rising costs of employees' health care and pensions.

That leaves a $1.7 million gap between spending and revenues, which are projected at $30.9 million. But due to uncertainties in projections and actual spending, budgeters say it is effectively a balanced budget.

The budget leaves little room for flexibility, as 11 vacant city positions were to remain unfilled. More recently, Prussing has introduced a plan to fill two vacant police positions, but that would require an 25-cent increase in parking rates on campus and cutting $71,000 worth of tourism promotion. The city council has yet to make a decision on that proposal.

Budgeters need to look at the overall spending plan, she said. Administrators from both cities have said uncontrollable costs — mainly employee benefits — have been rising while revenues have been flat or decreasing during the past several years, and that is what is creating the spending gaps.

But, assuming the tax passes in Champaign, it is not likely that the outcome of the labor negotiations would affect whether the city of Urbana would adopt the 4 percent tax.

"I think both cities realize that we don't want to be out of sync," Prussing said.