Nic gets $1.5M to play with

GOP mayoral candidate Nicole Malliotakis got a financial lifeline Thursday when the Campaign Finance Board awarded her more than $1.5 million in matching funds.

Mayor de Blasio’s chief challenger has raised $734,412 but had just $162,950 left as of the latest filing, so the payment gives her a needed boost.

The mayor, meanwhile, who is sitting on a $2.3 million war chest, was awarded another $86,478, bringing the total matching funds that he has re- ceived to nearly $2.9 million.

In all, the CFB awarded just over $5.3 million to 46 candidates for citywide and local offices.

Under the campaign-finance system, contributions from city residents of up to $175 are matched 6-to-1 with taxpayer funding.

Earlier in the day, Malliotakis (right) accused the mayor of cutting funding for seniors, saying Department for the Aging funding will go from $330.8 million to $310 million in the upcoming budget. “It’s a complete mismanagement of government, and this mayor has no regard for the taxpayer,” she said.

Ade Blasio spokesman said that Malliotakis has her numbers wrong and that funding actually went up from $342 million to $366 million.

“Funding for senior programs has gone up 60 percent since the mayor took office,” said the spokesman, Seth Stein.