It will be a big-stick budget without a lot of soft speaking today when Mayor L. Douglas Wilder presents his first plan for how Richmond should spend its money.

Wilder is looking for big cuts in some spending because some of the biggest bills the city faces are on the rise and he can't do much to slow them down -- for now.

The budget he presents at 6 p.m. tonight to the City Council fires a clear warning shot that he is ready to play some hard politics over the money Richmond spends.

"Things are tight," Wilder said in a wide-ranging interview yesterday. "When I was coming up, there was always an expression that you don't want to let people know how poor you are. We are not poor, but we are not rich. We don't need to give the appearance that we have got all this money."

Among other things, Wilder said his budget would:

*Merge the Richmond school system's finance, payroll and printing operations into City Hall's, using the savings to hire more math and reading specialists as well as expand foreign language programs, the Community in Schools Program and the Discovery Academies.

*Eliminate the $390,000 the city gave the Greater Richmond Partnership, the regional economic development agency.

*Eliminate the $700,000 the city gives Richmond Renaissance, the downtown development group backed by some of the city's most powerful business leaders, for the "Clean & Safe" street-cleaning and public safety program. "We can clean our own streets," Wilder said.

*Provide $6 million to hire 30 new police officers -- a down payment on the 50 officers Wilder has said he will add to the police force.

Wilder said he expects his proposals for the city schools will lead to cuts among administrative staff in the school system's central office, freeing up even more funds for use in classrooms.

His budget also calls for renovations at George Mason and Broad Rock elementary schools, with the work at George Mason -- the school he attended as a child -- financed by using state historic renovation tax credits.

The mayor is also targeting City Council's budget. He plans to eliminate the council's discretionary "Paygo" accounts, calling them "an invitation to trouble." He also won't budget any money for international travel for council members through their Sister Cities program.

"We are funding necessities, not niceties," he said. "We are doing the kinds of things that just have got to be done."

Wilder said his review of his budget options showed he can't do much -- for now -- about such large running bills from old economic development deals, including the $1 million a year that goes to the Marriott Hotel or the $1.7 million slated for the Greater Richmond Convention Center next year or the $2.7 million that the city pays SunTrust Mortgage.

"With every negotiation that takes place for the next four years for the remainder of my term, we are not going to have these types of open-ended, loose-ended commitments for the city with nothing coming back," he said.

By outlining how the deals strain the city's finances, Wilder said, he hopes to open the door to restructure some of the deals.

"It'll be confrontational," he said.

Wilder, though, said he was powerless to do much about the big drivers of the city's financial squeeze.

Interest on the city bonds -- the money it has borrowed over the years to pay for major construction and repair work, as well as some economic development programs -- is ballooning. It is due to rise $5 million next year after an increase of more than $2 million this year and $5 million last year.

"We are at our debt capacity. We are not at the exact end of it. But incurring any more debt would harm us as far as ratings are concerned," he said.

On top of that, the sum the city needs to pay into its employee retirement fund will increase by $6 million.

A 3 percent raise for employees is another $4 million.

Wilder said the cuts he plans won't be quite enough to offset those increases and keep the overall city budget at this year's $540 million total.

"Hopefully, over the next year or so, a pattern will develop that you will see long-term savings as well as a curtailment," he said.

"Get it on," he said, "and cut it up."

The Wilder budget

Mayor L. Douglas Wilder plans to present his budget to the City Council tonight. His proposal will include:

Merging - the Richmond school system's finance, payroll and printing operations into City Hall's.

Eliminating - the $390,000 the city gave the Greater Richmond Partnership.

Eliminating - the $700,000 the city gives Richmond Renaissance, the downtown development group, for the "Clean & Safe" street- cleaning and public safety program.

Providing - $6 million to hire 30 new police officers.