Mayor Dave Cieslewicz and mayoral candidate Ray Allen butted heads Thursday over a $700,000 loan given to the local company Tomotherapy during a debate at the Madison Club.

The company, which builds machines for cancer treatment, was given a loan out of the Madison Capital Revolving Fund. Before the loan was given, the fund had more than $800,000 in it.

However, Allen said he would not have given the high-tech company the loan.

"The purpose of that fund was to help encourage businesses to either expand or to locate in Madison, who employs unemployed and underemployed people," said Semmi Pasha, spokesperson for Allen. "[Cieslewicz] spent all the money on this company that probably didn't need it anyway."

The mayor, however, said the loan was necessary to keep Tomotherapy in Madison, because it was unclear if the company would be able to expand without moving to another city.

"We came in at just the right time to make sure that they created those new jobs in Madison," Cieslewicz said. "In part, Tomo will be hiring people with college and graduate school educations, but they also hire people to help build machines."

Both candidates have addressed Madison's so-called "brain drain," where University of Wisconsin students move to other cities after graduation. Mayor Cieslewicz said this loan was justified not only because of the groundbreaking work Tomotherapy does, but also because of the jobs it provides the city.

"Our strategy has always been to grow companies that are here (in Madison), and the best thing we can do here is to incubate ideas that come out of the university," Mayor Cieslewicz said, citing the city's work with the new UW Research Park near the Beltline.

The mayor and Allen also said Madison needs to provide more accessible transportation to develop the city's business sectors.

"If you're going to have to fight through a Chicago-style commute every morning, you might as well live in Chicago," Pasha said. "Economic development is much more than giving tax money to corporations — it's working with the business community to develop partnerships, which everybody can benefit from."

Allen has also expressed a desire to build a new parking ramp in the mid-State Street area, which he said would provide more accessible parking for companies in that area and their employees.

During this campaign, Allen has also focused on Madison's reputation, which he sees as "anti-business." Pasha said the city government has a reputation for wanting to "micromanage" businesses, which makes it hard to attract new companies.

Pasha also said simple things — like making sure parks are maintained and graffiti is cleaned up — could make Madison more attractive to business owners.

"It's little things like that that make people think twice," Pasha said.

Cieslewicz said his work with the Collaboration Council has helped the city to develop clearer plans for improving the city's business districts.

"We've been very active in the collaboration council, which is a joint public-private effort to encourage us to think more regionally," Cieslewicz said. "We're in competition not so much between Madison and Middleton as we are in competition with other metropolitan areas."

Both candidates also said Madison needs to work on improving their arts and entertainment districts in order to make the city more of a tourist destination.

The two candidates will face off in the general election April 3.