The city paid less money last year to plaintiffs than it had in any of the previous five years, according to a report released today by the city comptroller’s office.

The statistics suggest that recent initiatives by both the city law department and the comptroller’s office to settle certain cases early on is having some success in saving the city money.

In recent years, the amount of money the city pays to plaintiffs has been roughly 1% of the city’s budget. The city law department devotes more than 200 attorneys to handle what the corporation counsel, Michael Cardozo, has called “the tort problem.” The vast majority of the filings against the city are either personal injury or property damage claims.

During fiscal year 2006, the city paid $496.4 million to plaintiffs in either settlements or court awards, a 7% decline from the previous year’s figure of $529.8 million.

Overall, the number of claims filed against the city in the last fiscal year was down to 24,155, a 4% percent decrease from the year before and the lowest figure in the decade, according to the report. It is unclear how many of the claims filed with the comptroller’s office eventually turned into lawsuits.

The report identified an increase in the number of claims filed against the Police Department and the cost of medical malpractice claims, calling them “troubling trends.”