Mayor Paul Soglin proposed the largest capital budget of his career Tuesday, moving several major city projects to the back burner in favor of investments in infrastructure and debt service.

Soglin’s budget totaled $225.3 million, with $112.8 million dedicated to debt service. Soglin said in a statement paying the city’s debt along with more investments in aging infrastructure to meet the city’s needs were factors causing the budget to be larger compared to previous years. 

The capital budget differs from the city’s operating budget because the city borrows money for the projects in the budget.

Dave Schmiedicke, the city’s finance director, said in an email to The Badger Herald because of the need to replace old infrastructure and invest in fostering economic growth, debt service is expected to increase from 12.5 percent to 20 percent over the next few years. 

“The executive capital budget attempts to balance the present demands for infrastructure improvements with concerns about the impact of rising debt service,” he said. 

Schmiedicke said as a result, projects with a high priority for the city are going to have a longer timetable so growth will be manageable balanced against debt service.

Among the projects is less funding for city libraries in the capital budget than there was in the 2013 adopted budget, although there was still money allocated to new improvements on certain branches. The proposed budget also allocated more money to the police and fire departments than in 2013.

Ald. Scott Resnick, district 8, said Soglin is pushing those initiatives forward because of an opportunity to expand the fire administration and build a new station in order to help police officers in West Side. 

“As the City of Madison expands, the essential infrastructure needs for the city need to expand with it,” Resnick said. 

Schmiedicke said another significant commitment proposed by the budget and the 2015-2019 Capital Improvement Plan is renovation of the 86-year-old Municipal Building, construction of a new library branch and support facilities, redevelopment of the Olbrich Botanical Gardens, investments in family neighborhood centers and some funding for housing for the Madison homeless population. 

Soglin said in a statement increased investments in certain projects were identified in previous capital improvement plans and will be implemented in the next three or four years. 

Katie Crawley, Soglin’s spokesperson, said the mayor still had to push back certain initiatives such as a public market, library branch projects and a biodigester for the city’s landfill waste. 

Soglin said these projects still remain high priority.

“These projects are among my top priorities and would be implemented much sooner if not for the previous commitment of city debt and resulting rise in debt service,” he said. 

The capital budget will be taken up in September by the Board of Estimates. Public budget hearings will be held before City Council adopts the 2014 budget around Nov. 4, Resnick said.