Council spends big on Queen Vic Market

Lord Mayor Robert Doyle might be an "old fart", but he's not afraid of hypnotists, controversy or taking the City of Melbourne into debt for the first time in 20 years.

The City of Melbourne announced its draft 2015-16 budget on Thursday, with the Queen Victoria Market this year's big-ticket item.

A total of $80.64 million has been allocated to its revamp, and the council plans to take advantage of low interest rates and borrow $75 million for the project.

While Mr Doyle understands eyebrows were raised after the council spent $1.5 million on a "bizarre" video of young urban professionals being hypnotised so they could rediscover Melbourne, he said the city needed to keep advertising everything the town had to offer.

"I'm not an expert on this video, but it's not aimed at old farts like us," he said.

"It is only in Melbourne where the night-time economy is booming - we're doing something right in getting the target market into the city."

Despite an obvious focus on the market in the budget, Mr Doyle denied funding for services fighting homelessness would take a back seat.

"We will deliver the services we need to deliver," he said.

The budget also includes a $538.5 million record investment in the city's programs, services and infrastructure.

There is $800,000 for solar panels for council-owned buildings and $1.6 million to upgrade street lights to LED.

Unused grey spaces will be turned to green as the council moves to transform unused roads into parklands.

The budget and submissions will be presented to the council for adoption on June 30.