Metro

Mayor’s budget has a $1 billion rainy day fund

Six years after attacking Mike Bloomberg for socking away $4.5 billion in a rainy-day fund, Mayor de Blasio did the same thing — setting aside an extra $1 billion as he released a preliminary spending plan for 2015.

De Blasio’s first budget also contained $600 million in a general reserve fund — double the amount in Bloomberg’s last budget — with $465 million to cover increased union-contract costs.

As a City Council member in 2008, de Blasio blasted the mayor for saving $4.5 billion for future needs instead of allocating the money for extra services.

On Wednesday, de Blasio claimed he couldn’t recall the specifics of his criticisms back then, and insisted times have changed.

“A lot of things were different then,” he said at City Hall.

“Now there’s no question in my mind, I have to take a very responsible and careful path.”

Still, council GOP minority leader Vincent Ignizio (R-SI) questioned the proposed budget for the NYPD, which alone is scheduled to lose $21 million in city funding.

“Would like to see greater clarity on NYPD head count,” he tweeted. “Don’t see resources dedicated to increasing the numbers, and think we [in the council] need to pursue.”

De Blasio also gave his old Public Advocate’s Office a nice parting gift — an extra $700,000 in the 2015 fiscal year, which starts July 1.

The office, occupied by ally Letitia James, currently has a budget of $1.6 million.

Borough presidents are also poised to get more cash, with de  Blasio’s home borough of Brooklyn set to rake in the most — $2 million in new funds.

The mayor and his aides said the proposed $73.7 billion budget contains no broad-based cuts to services or agencies.

Yet it contains huge increases in education spending — far above the $520 million in annual income anticipated from a tax hike on the city’s wealthy that’s far from ­certain.

yoav.gonen@nypost.com

De Blasio said he was being as prudent as he could considering he was left with more than 150 unsettled labor contracts.

“You’ve got these three big unknowns — federal budget, state budget and labor contracts — and associated things like the [Superstorm] Sandy costs,” said the mayor. “We’re being very cautious in the preliminary budget.”