Mayor Byron W. Brown released more details Tuesday of the city’s plan to retake control of its parks by Dec. 31.

He sent the Common Council more than $904,000 in budget transfers that would pay for equipment leases, machinery repairs, supplies and hourly workers. Monday, he sent salary ordinances that would pave the way for transferring 50 Erie County employees to the city’s payroll. The county has been maintaining parks and recreation centers under an agreement signed in 2004.

But city lawmakers said they need more time to review the requests — and more information from city officials.

Council President David A. Franczyk said Public Works Commissioner Steven J. Stepniak will be asked to attend a committee meeting next Tuesday and will be pressed for details on how the new parks division will operate. Lawmakers want to make sure crews will be ready to “hit the ground running” when responsibility for the parks returns to the city, Franczyk said.

“We want him to come to a committee and say, ‘Here’s our plan, and this is how we can do it,’ ” said Franczyk.

The Brown administration said Tuesday that despite a tight schedule, the city still could take over the parks Dec. 31 as planned if the Council authorizes the job transfers soon.

But lawmakers said they wanted answers to many questions before authorizing the transfer of maintenance of all parks, playgrounds and recreation centers back to the city after five years of county management.

One looming question, said some Council members, involves the role of Buffalo Olmsted Parks Conservancy, the not-for-profit group that, under a contract with the county, has maintained six of the city’s largest, highest-profile parks, as well as the Olmsted parkways, since 2004. The city and conservancy have yet to come to terms on a long-term deal that would allow the organization to continue to handle those duties. Labor leaders have emphasized that under state labor law, the city must reach an agreement with unions before signing long-term pacts with third-party entities like the conservancy.

The Council met Tuesday with leaders from two of the city’s largest unions to discuss the parks issue. Michael F. Drennen, who represents some white-collar employees who would be transferred to the city payroll, urged lawmakers to move quickly on the measure.

Monday, Brown submitted a budget amendment that would transfer $954,404 from various accounts to fund the employees’ salaries through June 30, the end of the city’s fiscal year.

“The salary ordinances need to be passed so the people can be paid when they get here,” Drennen told lawmakers.

Drennen said a parks pact between unions and the city is almost finalized.

“We’re very hopeful. The discussions are going very well,” he told the Council.

William C. Travis, who represents blue-collar employees, concurred, telling The Buffalo News, “We’re at the table negotiating, and we’re making progress.”

Council Majority Leader Richard A. Fontana said Brown administration officials have told him that even with a tight schedule, approval of the job transfers in the next couple of weeks would be acceptable.

“We recognize they have to do their due diligence, and we respect their role in the process,” mayoral aide Peter J. Savage III told a reporter.

In addition to the 50 proposed jobs, Brown’s earlier request to hire an $85,000-a-year deputy commissioner to oversee the parks unit remains pending before the Council.