More than 600 city workers -- including 120 police officers -- would lose their jobs under a stark budget scenario presented Wednesday by Mayor Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake's administration.

Seven fire companies would close, 90 firefighters would be let go and more than half of the city's recreation centers would be shuttered under the preliminary plan, which would eviscerate key services to close a $121 million shortfall in the city's $2.2 billion budget.

"We need to do what families are doing every day: be realistic and honest about what we can afford and focus funding on the core services that we really need," said Rawlings-Blake. But she was quick to add that the scenario, which was drafted by the Finance Department to show what the city would have to cut if it didn't raise taxes or fees, includes reductions that are "unacceptable and simply go too far."

She plans to back an alternative -- a spending plan that will include $50 million in new taxes and fees to mitigate cuts, especially to public safety -- when the City Council next meets on April 12. The revenue-generating measures must pass through the legislative body, mayoral spokesman Ryan O'Doherty said.

While it is unusual for a city to present budget cuts and a revenue package separately, analysts said it was politically savvy of Rawlings-Blake to start with the realities of a stripped-down spending plan.

"What the mayor is doing is making a case for the revenue enhancements," said Ralph Martire, director of the Chicago-based Center for Tax and Budget Accountability. "If you don't believe cuts are the best way to balance the budget, then you absolutely should lead with your most sensitive programs. That's the best way to get people's attention."

But union leaders accused the mayor of "posturing" and attempting to frighten citizens into accepting new taxes by presenting a doomsday scenario.

"It's unfair to play games with city employees who are nervous about being laid off," said Robert F. Cherry, president of the Fraternal Order of Police. "It's even more disingenuous to play these games with the citizens and taxpayers of Baltimore city who demand real answers from the leaders of the city during these tough times."

The police department would be hit especially hard under the plan, which would ground its helicopter, moor the marine units that patrol the Inner Harbor and disband the historic mounted police. Although the mayor has promised to maintain all patrol officers, 193 positions in the SWAT team, intelligence sector, traffic enforcement and special operations would be eliminated.

Under the department's contract with the unit, the officers who were hired last would be laid off first. The department hired 25 officers with a federal grant in January and plans to hire 25 more with the rest of the grant funds in July. If these officers were let go, the city would have to return $10 million to Washington, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said.

City budget director Andrew W. Kleine acknowledged that cutting the positions could put the grant at risk, but that there was some flexibility in the program.

The fire department, which took deep cuts in last year's budget, would suffer again. Although the department's budget would grow by $2 million, three fire companies, either trucks or engines, would close permanently, and the system of four daily rolling closures of fire companies would continue.

With the rising costs of workers compensation, health insurance and other expenses, the department would need an additional $10.5 million to keep the companies open, Fire Chief James S. Clack said.

The city would "very likely see more fire deaths and injuries," if seven companies were closed, Clack wrote in a letter to firefighters. The mayor "has made it clear to me that public safety funding will be the first area of the budget to be restored if new revenue can be found," he wrote.

About $1.5 million would be cut from the Baltimore State's Attorney's office, including about $800,000 in funding for 14 community outreach positions within the city's district courts.

Baltimore State's Attorney Patricia Jessamy, who accused the mayor and city finance department of trying to undermine her, said the proposal violates the Maryland Constitution.

"I know for a fact that they cannot specifically cut programs in the office. They can grant me general funds under the budget, but it is constitutionally impermissible for them to usurp my authority" by specifying cuts, she said. "It is my obligation to do that, not the city's."

The proposal carves deeply into programs that enhance city life -- it would shut down seven swimming pools, halt tree planting and curtail bulk trash pick-ups -- and cuts public funds for beloved traditions such as the Preakness Parade and Fourth of July fireworks.

The Recreation and Parks department, which a 150-member citizen panel recently described as "crippled and without direction," would lose nearly a third of its $31 million budget. Twenty-nine of the city's 55 recreation centers would be closed, and more than 161 jobs would be eliminated. Free recreation programs for seniors would cease, swimming and splash pools would close and the pool season would be cut to five weeks.

More than 1,400 children would be dropped from summer programs if the rec centers were closed, interim parks director Dwayne B. Thomas said.

The locations of the rec centers, pools and fire companies that would close were not available Wednesday.

The Community Development office of the Housing and Community Development department would be dissolved as part of nearly $50 million in trims to the agency's budget. A transition report prepared by the citizen panel criticized the housing department as lacking "a clear and coherent vision for revitalizing ... neighborhoods."

Redevelopment projects would be spearheaded by the Planning Department and the mayor's Office of Neighborhoods under the spending plan.

Funding to the Enoch Pratt Free Library is largely untouched. Library use has increased 20 percent in the past year and unemployed people in particular are tapping the library's resources, said Kleine, the budget director.

This year marks the first time the city has used an "outcome-based" budget process that assigns funding in accordance with the city's goals and program success. Kleine said the system is an improvement on traditional budgeting procedures, which levy across-the-board cuts regardless of a department's performance.

"As much as possible, we don't want to just thin the soup," said Kleine. "We're trying to get away from agency silos and focus on what are the city's objectives."

Martire, of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, praised the system for granting officials the flexibility to fund deserving programs. But it drew ire from some agencies, particularly the police department, which largely withdrew from talks with the administration as the spending plan was being drafted.

"Outcome Budgeting is flawed as applied to law enforcement agencies and does not serve the Public Safety mission of the BPD," police leaders wrote in a memo to Rawlings-Blake as she took office last month. "The Commissioner opposes the implementation of Outcome Budgeting for the BPD as a labor intensive process that leads to arbitrary results."

This year's spending plan is further complicated by mayoral transition. Mayor Sheila Dixon resigned as part of a plea deal in a criminal case as the budget process was already well under way.

Rawlings-Blake inherits a city burdened by the deepest deficit in recent memory. Four years ago, the city enjoyed a $61 million surplus. The city anticipates a shortfall of as much as a $50 million in the current budget year, in addition to the $121 million deficit projected for next year.

Sharp drops in state aid, as well as declining income and housing sale taxes, have drained the budget while pension and health care costs have ballooned.

Baltimore is not alone; cities and states across the country are plagued by budget shortfalls for much the same reasons, said Chris Hoehne, director of research for the National League of Cities.

Cities are expected to suffer a combined fiscal shortfall of as much as $83 million between 2010 and 2012, he said.

Baltimore will be forced to pay as much as $65 million more if changes are not made to the fire and police pension by the start of the fiscal year on July 1. The preliminary budget assumes that the problem will be rectified.

The city hopes to save as much as $35 million through concessions with labor groups, such as continued furloughs, salary freezes and requiring employees to contribute 10 percent of the cost of the prescription drug premium.

Rawlings-Blake has promised to not increase property taxes, but is considering taxing nonprofits, which are exempt from property taxes, raising taxes on energy and telecommunications and imposing a fee on containers, such as water and soda bottles.

Councilman James Kraft said the fees would spread the burden to businesses and nonprofits, sparing residents from an undue share.

"You can't just keep asking the same people to foot the bill," he said.

Police, fire, health, parks and library officials are due to appear today before the Board of Estimates, which holds the first of a series of public meetings before voting on the budget.

After the board vote, the plan will move to the council for another round of hearings. Council members may cut the proposal, but they cannot add to it. It will then be returned to the mayor for final approval.

Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke said city budgets often include painful cuts to fire and police that inspire support for new fees.

"We can't tolerate cuts from public safety agencies and we must find a way to restore them," she said. "It's the way it's always been done. It's the way of democracy."

Baltimore Sun reporter Tricia Bishop contributed to this article.