Mayor Bloomberg gave his successor what he characterized as a historic gift Thursday — wiping out a $2 billion projected deficit.
He attributed the turnaround in the city’s fiscal outlook to higher tax income and greater-than-expected savings.
Among the pluses were $520 million in unanticipated taxes and $574 million from school-bus and health-insurance contracts.
“It doesn’t make the next mayor’s job easy, but it reduces the pain and it means one less thing that he’s got to worry about,” said Bloomberg.
The $72.7 billion budget contains only modest raises — with no retroactive pay — for municipal labor unions, which are working under contracts that expired as far back as 2009.
“It is like a homeowner developing a budget without counting the mortgage as an expense,” charged Harry Nespoli, chairman of the Municipal Labor Committee. “It is misleading and avoids responsible budgeting.”
De Blasio spokeswoman Lis Smith expressed concerns about other unidentified expenses, including from Hurricane Sandy damage and losses from the federal sequestration.