State comptroller says New York City underestimated 1992 budget surplus.

The New York State comptroller's <

office released reports yesterday that say New York City's 1992 fiscal year surplus is slightly larger than Mayor David N. Dinkins and the city's budget office had estimated.

One of the reports, both of which <

were prepared by deputy state Comptroller Elinor B. Bachrach, says the surplus for the city's 1992 fiscal year, which ends June 30, is $523 million, about $8 million higher then the $515 million announced by the city's Office of Management and Budget on Tuesday.

Despite the existence of the higher <

surplus, the comptroller's report says the additional money will be "immediately consumed by higher budget gaps projected for fiscal year 1993 and beyond."

The comptroller's other report <

says the city will experience a $374 million budget gap in the 1993 fiscal year. The report also says that the city faces even larger projected budget gaps, ranging from $850 million in fiscal 1994 to $660 million in fiscal 1996.

"While New York City officials <

continue to agree with the need for achieving structural budget balance, the latest four-year financial plan gives troubling evidence of a weakening of the city's resolve to actually achieve this goal," state Comptroller Edward V. Regan said in a statement that accompanied the reports.

The state comptroller's reports <

came several days after Mr. Dinkins announced that the city's fiscal 1992 budget surplus is $60 million greater that its previous estimate of $455 million. City officials attributed to growth in the surplus to higher-than-expected business tax revenues and spending reductions.

At the same time, the finance <

staff for the city council said the surplus is $160 million higher than the $455 million surplus originally cited by the Dinkins administration.

Mayor Dinkins said the larger <

surplus would allow the city to withdraw its request for a controversial $115 million tax increase that had been proposed to help balance the 1993 budget of $29.5 billion.

Ms. Bachrach said the state <

comptroller's report shows that a slightly larger surplus than the city's projection because of slightly different assumptions about the cost of hiring city workers and other expenditures. Officials with Mayor Dinkins's administration did not return telephone calls.

The state comptroller's report <

says the fiscal 1993 budget deficit is much larger than city Comptroller Elizabeth Holtzman has estimated. In a report issued Wednesday, Ms. Holtzman proposed a number of measures to narrow what her office has projected to be a $176 million budget gap in the next fiscal year.

Finance officials at the deputy <

state comptroller's office said their budget gap estimate is larger because they have factored in greater costs associated with the city's funding of the board of education.

Officials with the city comptroller's <

office did not return phone calls.

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