Paying up

Ignore the broad smiles and energetic handshake between Mayor de Blasio and Council Speaker Corey Johnson, and swallow this number: New York City’s budget is now $92.8 billion. That tab amounts to municipal government costs of nearly $11,000 for each and every man, woman and child in the five boroughs, much of it built into structural spending that can’t be unwound.

Buoyed by a good economy, the total budget has grown by more than $20 billion since de Blasio took office six years ago, from $72.7 billion in 2013 to $92.8 billion this year. Total city funds spending is growing at double the rate of inflation; that’s after big spending boosts in the Bloomberg years.

Much of that money is coming from ever-rising property taxes. For years, that unjust system has cried out for reform; the

mayor has talked and not delivered.

Even the $92.8 billion figure comes with an asterisk: The Council and mayor reached vague deals to fund pay parity for pre-K teachers and public defenders, exact cost TBD.

The Council deserves credit for pushing the mayor this year to fund some priorities through savings, including cutting $20 million from First Lady Chirlane McCray’s unfocused ThriveNYC mental health program and redirecting $11 million of it to pay for new school social workers.

Meantime, the city pats itself on the back for squirreling away reserves of roughly $6 billion, an amount that wouldn’t even cover a year of budget shortfall in a typical recession.

Did anyone ever consider giving New Yorkers a tax cut? Stop laughing.