D.C. Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi called for legislation Wednesday to limit the amount of debt District leaders are allowed to issue for capital projects,

raising doubts about the viability of big ticket redevelopment projects, including a new soccer stadium.

Officials face difficult choices as revenues decline and the economy continues to slump, Gandhi said during a briefing with reporters. D.C.’s plan to borrow $1.4 billion through 2014 leaves little room for new endeavors and threatens the city’s bond rating, which would mean much higher interest rates on future debt.

That amount of borrowing, he said, is “somewhat unsustainable.”

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Gandhi has delivered similar cautions before, most recently in June 2007, but this is the first time he’s called for legislative action “out of concern for the District’s financial health,” he wrote in a letter Tuesday to Mayor Adrian Fenty and D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray. The city should “send a signal to Wall Street that the amount it spends to pay down debt will not exceed 12 percent of its total annual expenses” — the ratio will reach 11 percent next year.

“New initiatives that call for high levels of borrowing may have to displace currently planned projects in order for the District

to remain within the recommended caps,” Gandhi wrote in the letter.

It is unclear what Gandhi’s warnings might mean for the

redevelopment of Poplar Point — new D.C. United soccer stadium included — Hill East or the

McMillan Reservoir, a trio of multibillion-dollar projects that Fenty and the council have indicated

are on the near horizon. Bond issuances for the three is certain to reach into the hundreds of millions.

The Fenty administration is concerned that one out of every 10 dollars goes to debt service, said City Administrator Dan Tangherlini. But it would be difficult, he said, to back a strict cap on borrowing if it means limiting investment in revenue-enhancing projects.

“I don’t think this letter is news to us,” Tangherlini said. “It reiterates a point.”

At-large Councilman David Catania said the CFO is just as at fault for the city’s growing debt as the council or the mayor, given that it’s Gandhi’s fiscal impact statements that allow projects to advance through the pipeline. Using pay-go capital and prioritizing projects would go a long way to improving the District’s debt dilemma, Catania said.

“We’ve been approving projects hand over fist,” he said. “We have to start saying ‘no.’ ”

mneibauer@dcexaminer.com