The city’s comptroller, William Thompson Jr., said yesterday he has “concerns” about a $1.6 million mass mailing that was sent out by the speaker of the City Council, Gifford Miller, and that the way the job was divvied up among vendors “sends the wrong message.”

In his first interview on the subject, Mr. Thompson, who is the city’s chief financial officer and is in charge of auditing city agencies, said that dividing the printing and labeling work on the mailings into 150 separate jobs – a method that allowed the council to avoid a competitive bidding process – did not seem to be in keeping with city regulations.

“Because there are so many contracts of less than $5,000, it looks as if the intention was to get around the procurement rules,” Mr. Thompson told The New York Sun after announcing his bid for re-election at City Hall. “It may not be, but it does become a concern, and I think that we have to be concerned as elected officials with not just what the intention is, but with what the appearance is also. So I think it sends the wrong message.”

Mr. Thompson said his office would be looking at the purchase orders related to the mailing during its standard audit of the City Council, which is done every four years. The next is due to commence in October.

Mr. Thompson’s comments add to the mounting criticism of Mr. Miller, who as a Democrat running for mayor has been accused of misusing his powerful office to send out 5.8 million pieces of mail. Many said that while elected officials often test franking rules during election years, this mailing was more massive than usual.

The mailings were hurried out just before the Campaign Finance Board blackout period, which bars candidates from using their government office to pay for mass mailings in the 90 days leading up to an election, began on June 15. The law was designed to ensure that incumbents are not afforded the unfair advantage of government resources before an election.

Mr. Miller and the council did pass a law in December to extend the blackout period to 90 days from 30 – a measure that has left some at watchdog groups shaking their heads and wondering why a speaker who acted to strengthen regulations in this area would broach this gray territory.

Mr. Miller’s office initially said the price of the mailings was $37,000 and estimated that “more than 100,000” pieces were sent citywide. It revised those numbers last Thursday and blamed the error on a “miscommunication.”

A review of purchase orders conducted earlier this week by the Sun also found that at least 400,000 pieces of mail were printed but never sent and that tens of thousands of duplicate fliers were also mistakenly printed.

During an interview yesterday in the parking lot of a Stop & Shop supermarket in the Bronx, where he was campaigning, Mr. Miller defended the mailings and said he would cooperate with Mr. Thompson’s audit, as the council has in the past.

“These mailings were entirely legal and appropriate and done in a time sensitive way to try to bring pressure on the mayor to negotiate a good $50 billion budget,” Mr. Miller said. “I know the comptroller does an audit every four years. We always work with him on it, and I look forward to working with him on this one.”

When asked whether he had any regrets about the way the mailing was handled, he said: “I certainly think there was a mistake made by the press office in putting out the wrong number, and I asked my staff to do a full review and they did it and put out proper numbers.”

Mr. Miller said splitting up the printing and labeling jobs was “the way the council has done this since long before I took office as speaker.” He said every precaution was taken to make sure that the council complied with “the tougher restrictions that I wrote into law.”

When asked about the speaker’s position that pre-budget mailings had long been handled in such a way, Mr. Thompson said: “That may be, but we are all still held responsible and accountable for what happens on our watch.”