IBO: Surplus!

The city Independent Budget Office just released a report [pdf] on the city's economic health which says that the mayor's warnings about a projected 2008 budget gap of $3.8 billion "appear premature" thanks to "better-than-expected tax revenues."

More:

"Based largely on the on IBO's latest tax revenue estimates, the city's short-term fiscal picture appears even brighter than the Mayor's most recent projection. We expect tax revenue to be more than $250 million higher than projected by the Mayor's office in November for the current year and more than $1 billion annually above their estimates for 2008-2010--even though we project tax revenue will grow more slowly than it has in the recent past."

Far from Bloomberg's projected gap of $3.8 billion, the IBO expects "2008 to end with a surplus of $688 million."

The downside for the city, of course, is that this report is not going to make it any easier to ask for more education money from Albany. But I'm sure that's a worry for another day.

-- Azi Paybarah