Team Blas is still spending faster than the money comes in

If Mayor de Blasio can’t balance his budget in good times, how would he do it if the economy sours and revenue dries up?

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That’s the troubling question the Citizens Budget Commission raised last week in a report noting that Team de Blasio spent more than it took in over the fiscal year that ended June 30.

Both the City Charter and state law require Gotham to balance its annual budget. But de Blasio was able to make ends meet last year only by prepaying some of its expenses with leftover funds from the prior year.

True, City Hall wound up with a surplus last year, too: $4.2 billion, not counting another $100 million that went to a retiree health-benefits fund. It rolled that extra money into this year’s budget.

But it wasn’t as much as what it had rolled in at the end of the 2018 fiscal year: $4.6 billion. And the $255 million difference, CBC notes, represents a shortfall between revenues and spending last year.

“Any time more money is rolled in than out means the City spent more than it collected in that year,” notes the report. To see the problem, it suggests thinking about “how ending the year with $1,000 in your bank account feels good, until you remember that you started the year with $2,000.”

It’s troubling news: There’s no good reason, after all, that outlays should outstrip revenue, particularly when a strong economy’s leaving Hizzoner flush with cash.

There’s a bad reason, though: Spending is mushrooming way too fast.

“The shortfall is concerning since it suggests that the City’s level of spending is unsustainable even in a strong economy,” sighs the CBC. It notes that city-funded expenditures grew 5.7 percent last year and are set to spike another 5.3 percent this year. That’s faster than the 3.6 percent average annual growth between 2014 and 2017.

It’s also far faster than the average 1.5 percent inflation rate since 2014.

One reason for the spend-apalooza: The mayor keeps expanding the city’s headcount, which will hit a record number — 333,433 authorized positions — this year. That’s 1,100 more than last year, despite a supposed hiring freeze.

We’ve long noted how kind the economy has been to de Blasio’s budgeting. But even with money gushing in, he can’t make ends meet. That guarantees major pain when the good times stop rolling.