Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl’s office, accused during the spring election campaign of holding up projects important to city council foes, now is criticizing a councilman for dragging his feet on one of the mayor’s initiatives.

Five bills jointly authorizing $275,000 for the mayor’s transportation plan were on council’s agenda May 31. But Councilman Doug Shields, who would be responsible for introducing the bills as council’s chairman of land use and economic development, took them off the agenda that day and hasn’t reintroduced them.

Mr. Shields said he has delayed introducing the legislation because of continued uncertainty about the city’s capital budget, calling $275,000 a lot of money for a city that doesn’t know how deep its pockets are and that must prioritize spending.

Mayoral spokeswoman Joanna Doven stopped short of describing the delay as political payback but called Mr. Shields, who decided not to seek re-election to council and lost a bid for district judge, “a councilman who’s out of a job and unaccountable right now.”

“We just see this as an abuse of power,” she said, calling MovePgh an initiative important not only to the mayor but to the Port Authority, Allegheny Conference on Community Development and other groups working on the plan. If council blocks the plan, she said, it would send the wrong message to community leaders.

Ms. Doven and city planning director Noor Ismail said the money is needed to hire a consultant to work on the MovePgh plan, which Mr. Ravenstahl has said will “make our roads, rivers, rails, trails and mass transit work in a way that better connects people with where they live, work and play.”

MovePgh is part of the city’s broader comprehensive planning process. Studies on other plan components, such as open space and historic preservation, are under way.

Officials said uncertainty about the capital budget this year already delayed the project and that further delays could lead to higher consulting fees, prompt the consultant to walk away or jeopardize state funding needed for part of the MovePgh initiative, to cost $1.3 million in all.

Scott Bricker, executive director of Bike Pittsburgh, one of the groups working on MovePgh, doesn’t believe the delay so far has hurt the plan. But he said further stalling has the potential to do so.

The plan “will set a bold transportation vision for the city for many years to come. That’s why I’m excited about getting started on it as soon as possible,” Mr. Bricker said.