A group of conservative Dane County Board members is calling for a moratorium on borrowing for land purchases in 2010.

The proposal would rescind a 2007 resolution that called for borrowing $25 million for parkland and open space over five years.

"Our general fund is expected to have a deficit ... at the end of 2009," said Sup. Ronn Ferrell, of Madison. "The county cannot continue spending more than we take in, and we cannot expect the taxpayers of Dane County to pay more taxes during this economic crisis."

The board approved borrowing $5 million for open space in 2008 and $7.5 million this year. The board’s budget committee has frozen most of this year’s funding in the midst of a budget shortfall.

Board Chairman Scott McDonell dismissed the moratorium proposal as an attempt to grab credit for something the liberal majority on the board is already doing.

"I don’t see us doing a whole lot of borrowing until we’re in the black," McDonell said. He said he doesn’t know how much money, if any, the 2010 budget will include for the Conservation Fund, which handles such land purchases. "It’s going to depend on how the economy performs between now and then."