Two months into the job, NSW Treasurer Gladys Berejiklian is flashing the cash with a $2.5 billion surplus forecast as well as promises of record spending on schools and hospitals.
A bumper year for Sydney house sales helped prop up an underlying surplus of just under $713 million for the 2015-16 financial year, and long-flagged changes to the way railway infrastructure is accounted for in the budget have pushed the headline figure up to the tune of $1.8 billion.
But this budget is also about what isn't yet in the piggy bank - the $20 billion that the Baird government hopes to raise from its poles and wires partial privatisation.
"We're only just getting started," Ms Berejiklian said on Tuesday.
She will set aside $591 million so that major building projects that rely on the electricity lease money will be "shovel-ready" from the moment those funds start flowing.
Among the projects to be fast-tracked are Sydney's Western Harbour Tunnel, upgrades of the Mitchell, Newell and Pacific Highways between NSW regional centres, and the long-promised Parramatta light rail, which the government promises will help establish the western Sydney suburb as the city's second CBD.
Ms Berejiklian's debut budget also includes $19.6 billion for health and $12.8 billion for education this year alone.
She confirmed the state would deliver a $2.1 billion surplus for 2014-15, thanks in large part to the booming housing market - though she stressed that residential stamp duties only made up about 10 per cent of government revenues.
Though Premier Mike Baird is fond of calling this a boom-time budget, but his treasurer was careful to point out the good times may not last.
This year's bottom line already took a hit due to falling electricity network dividends.
Revenues are softening and the white-hot Sydney property market that has proven such a money-spinner for the state is expected to come off the boil in the forward estimates.
Yet the biggest change could come from Canberra, which contributes about 40 per cent of state revenues.
The federal government has already flagged massive cuts to health and education funding, and the treasurer has promised to take up the fight later this year.
"It will become more and more difficult for us to live within our means, but we're absolutely committed to it," Ms Berejiklian said.
Share
