Jacksonville's City Council has fretted over debt.

Members have pushed city administrators to be disciplined about borrowing  less. They've researched how the city anticipates operating costs when it opens  new buildings, then how that affects the city's budget.

But discovering a decades-old city law limits their freedom to pursue big  projects — usually paid for through debt — could test how far that commitment  reaches.

At issue is legislation introduced last week, in the wake of a tight vote  against building an Arlington dog park, that rewrites a rule limiting changes to  the city's capital improvement program to once a year. A law dating at least to  1983 lets the council make changes more often if it concludes that waiting will  hurt the city's best interest — but says the council has to make that  finding.

The bill would eliminate a need to reach a finding, and save members from  arguing for immediate action on projects like dog parks.