Mayor Bill de Blasio revealed Thursday that the federal tax reform boosted city revenues by an unexpected $1 billion this year.

Then he attacked it.

The Citizens Budget Commission, a watchdog group, took a dim view of the budget proposal, noting that it "increases operating spending at more than twice the rate of inflation and misses an opportunity to bolster reserves" when tax revenue is pouring in.

"City-funded spending will grow 5.8% and total headcount is projected to increase to a record high," the group said in a statement, adding that planned capital spending over the next five years has "ballooned to approximately $82 billion."

But it praised the mayor for finally removing anticipated revenue from taxi medallion sales, which might never happen because medallion values have plummeted by more than 80%.

The news release about Mayor Bill de Blasio’s $89 billion executive budget revealed the depths of the city’s anger at what it described as “hits from Albany.”

The city did not account for those potential costs in its budget, but the mayor repeatedly said the city has the highest reserves in its history.

While that is true, said Maria Doulis, vice president of the Citizens Budget Commission, the city’s $1 billion in general reserves has not increased over last year’s budget.

“There are actions resulting from Albany and the state budget that the city will be forced to cover, but there are also choices the mayor made,” Ms. Doulis said. “The mayor continues to spend, and he’s not doing enough to counterbalance that spending by finding savings at the agency level and growing the reserves.”

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio cited hits from Albany and threats from Washington as he released his $89.06 billion fiscal 2019 executive budget on Thursday.

“We had a bad year in Albany,” de Blasio told reporters at a late-afternoon briefing in the City Hall Blue Room. "The Albany piece is a particular concern today, and what it means for our future."

De Blasio said the cuts surprised him, given traditional state election-year politics.

The state budget “places additional burdens on the city’s fiscal resources,” said Ana Champeny, director of city studies for the watchdog Citizens Budget Commission. “The city will need to exercise restraint in other areas, as well.”

In about a month, a jury is going to be picked in a massive public corruption trial. It involves the former head of SUNY Poly and charges of bid-rigging.

The case is one of the reasons why good government groups said that New York State needs to be more upfront and honest with how it uses taxpayer money to start up businesses.

"Everyone wants jobs," said Riley Edwards of the Citizens Budget Commission: "It's a lot easier to make a big announcement than it is to follow-up monthly, quarterly, annually with measurements of how this is doing, and admit when we've made mistakes and sort of change our strategy and I think that needs to happen more."

A watchdog group is criticizing a series of bills proposed by state lawmakers, which it claims would sweeten public pensions on the public's dime.

A total of 119 bills under consideration by state lawmakers would enhance benefits for public workers at a cost of at least $349 million to taxpayers, according to a non-profit watchdog group that criticized the potential spending in a report earlier this month.

The Citizens Budget Commission's "2018 Budget Sweetner Scorecard" analyzed legislation in a number of different sectors, including education, criminal justice and public safety.

For years public housing residents in New York City felt abandoned. Neglect led to failing boilers and leaking roofs. Mold plagued apartments. Lead paint that was supposed to be removed was left in place.

So tenants rejoiced when Governor Andrew M. Cuomo ordered the appointment of an independent monitor to oversee repairs he said the New York City Housing Authority was too incompetent to manage. A slew of city officials, with the notable exception of Mayor Bill de Blasio, joined Mr. Cuomo onstage when he signed the executive order earlier this month in the crowded gymnasium of a public housing development in East Harlem.

Despite the governor’s order, some say it’s unlikely that the city will foot the whole bill. “It’s unreasonable to think the city can give Nycha a blank check, but it puts pressure on the mayor to do more,” said Maria Doulis, the vice president of the Citizens Budget Commission, a city budget watchdog. “The city is a creature of the state and state actions are always a wild card for the city.”

New York taxpayers are at risk of hundreds of millions in added costs from the 119 pension-sweetener bills now before the Legislature.

Public-employee unions come back every year asking for more-generous rules for pensions and other benefits. It’s a no-lose game: If you don’t get the giveaway one year, come back the next.

The Citizens Budget Commission warns the current 119 bills would cost the public at least $349 million. And that’s accepting those absurd “it’s free” claims.

After 10 years at the Citizens Budget Commission, President Carol Kellermann will be stepping down by the end of the year, the New York budget watchdog announced on Monday.

"New leadership leads to fresh thinking, and I have no doubt CBC will continue to thrive under its next president," Kellermann said. "I look forward to assisting the search committee and assuring a smooth transition."

It’s an election year for all state lawmakers and Albany is looking to deliver the pension pork to their union pals.

There are 119 pension-and-benefit sweetener bills under consideration for public-employee union workers and retirees, and they would cost taxpayers more than $349 million.

And that’s likely a low-ball estimate, because two-thirds of the measures did not include a cost, according to the Citizens Budget Commission, a government- watchdog group.

A study released this week by researchers with the Citizens Budget Commission concluded that the Metro-North was far more efficient than the Long Island Railroad (LIRR).

According to this report, the LIRR is not being as productive as it should be with the number of workers it has, and that it's spending more money on overtime and pensions than on repairs.

A new report has revealed that the LIRR was more expensive to run last year than Metro North.

A new report from a fiscal watchdog group calls out the LIRR for being far less efficient than its sister MTA commuter railroad, Metro-North, which spends considerably less on labor expenses, despite employing more workers.

The report from the nonprofit Citizens Budget Commission drew several comparisons between the two similar-sized railroads and concluded that Metro-North is doing a better job of maximizing productivity while minimizing expenses than the Long Island Rail Road, whose costs per hour, per mile and per ride were all higher than that of Metro-North.

An MTA spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.