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Unless the city of Richmond stretches its fiscal policies — possibly risking a downgrade to its credit rating — it won’t be able to come close to funding the school system’s multi-million dollar plan to overhaul its decrepit facilities, according to the city’s financial advisers.

At present, the city’s debt capacity is virtually maxed out: The city can only borrow about $8 million over the next five years, according to an analysis by Davenport and Company.

The study, which was presented to the City Council on Monday, was conducted at the request of Mayor Dwight C. Jones, who has said he wants to put in place a multi-year funding plan for schools before he leaves office at the end of the year.

The findings, however, are bleak.

“That’s not a lot of money every year,” said Councilwoman Ellen F. Robertson. “It’s not going to get us anywhere near the money schools want.”

Indeed, the school system has said it has $168.9 million in construction and renovation needs over five years. And other city departments say they have capital construction needs totaling $634.3 million during that time period.