Mayor Luke Ravenstahl will pledge $80 million in new investments in streets, parks, playgrounds and neighborhoods over the next two years when he makes his 2012 budget address to city council on Monday.

After five years of working to reduce the city's debt, Mr. Ravenstahl will propose "responsible borrowing" and "aggressively investing in neighborhoods and infrastructure," mayoral spokeswoman Joanna Doven said.

While state overseers already have approved Mr. Ravenstahl's 2012 budget -- a $466 million spending plan that holds the line on real estate taxes and city services -- council must give its own approval. The annual budget address gives the mayor an opportunity to highlight trends and promote initiatives that are important to him.

Mr. Ravenstahl previously has expressed interest in borrowing next year.

He has issued no new debt since taking office in 2006. Instead, he has reduced the city's debt from $824 million to $581 million, while allocating $100 million for pay-as-you-go capital spending, Ms. Doven said, adding that she knows of no other city that maintained a pay-as-you-go capital budget for more than three years.

Now, Mr. Ravenstahl is proposing a refinancing and borrowing that would generate about $80 million to spend on new projects in 2012 and 2013.

Ms. Doven said the $80 million would be in addition to $64 million in Community Development Block Grant money and other capital grants that the city expects to receive during the two years. The federal funds carry some restrictions -- block grant money must be used on special populations and the economically disadvantaged, for example -- while the city has more flexibility in spending bond money.

Councilman Bill Peduto said he wants to have a written debt policy in place and an independent financial adviser on board before acting on Mr. Ravenstahl's proposed borrowing.

Mr. Peduto, council's finance chairman, introduced a debt policy -- something the city's state-appointed overseers have been calling for -- on Nov. 1. It would spell out criteria for borrowing and place limits on the city's annual debt payments.

The policy also would authorize council to retain its own financial adviser to vet borrowings proposed by the mayor's office. While the mayor's office uses a financial adviser to put together a deal, Mr. Peduto said council should have its own expert to evaluate the proposal and provide a public report.

On Thursday, council voted to postpone a vote on Mr. Peduto's policy for one week. Mr. Ravenstahl hasn't presented a timetable for his borrowing, but Mr. Peduto said the debt policy must be passed by council and signed into law by the mayor before he agrees to introduce legislation for a bond issue.