As city and state officials tried over the weekend to complete a deal that would give Goldman Sachs a new home adjacent to ground zero with the help of more than $1.75 billion in incentives, critics charged that the city had given up too much to keep the global banking giant downtown.

A spokesman for Speaker Sheldon Silver of the state Assembly confirmed that city and state officials agreed last week to convince Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to go through with its $2 billion, 40-story office tower at Battery Park City with $1.6 billion in Liberty Bonds and $150 million in tax breaks.

Those terms represent a significantly better deal for the investment bank than the $1 billion in tax-exempt Liberty Bonds the city offered Goldman for the same plot in 2004. The bank pulled out of that deal this spring, citing, among other elements, traffic problems and security concerns related to a planned nearby tunnel for vehicles. Some of those elements have been addressed in the new plan, according to a report in the New York Times.

In a statement yesterday, the Manhattan president, C. Virginia Fields, called the proposed city and state incentives a way to “give away the store in a desperate attempt to avoid political embarrassment.”

Ms. Fields, one of the Democrats running in next month’s mayoral primary, said Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Pataki should “long ago” have addressed Goldman’s initial traffic and security concerns. She also questioned the mayor’s priorities.

“Think of what the proposed subsidies could do to change the lives of average New Yorkers,” Ms. Fields said.

A spokesman for Speaker Gifford Miller of the City Council, Stephen Sigmund, said Mr. Miller – who also is running for the Democratic mayoral nomination – has often criticized Mr. Bloomberg for focusing too much on his West Side Stadium plan and neglecting Lower Manhattan. That preoccupation, the Miller spokesman said, cost the city better negotiating terms.

At the Dominican Day parade in Manhattan yesterday, Mr. Bloomberg defended the nascent deal. He cited 4,000 jobs that he expects the new high-rise to bring to the city, and he said Goldman’s presence downtown would reassure other companies that choose to remain in Lower Manhattan.

“It’s just crucially important that we get companies to go down there, even sometimes when it’s not in their economic interest,” the mayor said. “We try to soften the blow or make it better.”

Mr. Bloomberg defended Goldman Sachs against accusations that the firm outfoxed the city, holding out for a better deal than it would have received had the 2004 project held together.

“Goldman Sachs has acted responsibly,” the mayor said. “They were going to do it. They decided to take a breather and think about it while we decided what to do with some of the infrastructure. They’ve come back.”

The details of the arrangement are still unclear, according to Mr. Silver’s spokesman, Charles Carrier. Mr. Silver has been a zealous champion of the economic revival of ground zero and its environs, an area he represents at Albany.

Mr. Carrier said some of the tax breaks offered Goldman are derived from provisions enacted by the state Legislature in June aimed at encouraging development in Lower Manhattan. The bank would also receive state and city tax breaks on computers and furniture, and some credits for creating jobs.

Mr. Carrier said the deal was not yet completed and officials were in “intense talks” over the weekend. Details, he said, would be unavailable until the arrangement was final.

Congress authorized the city and the state each to issue $4 billion in tax-exempt Liberty Bonds to help rebuild New York after September 11. Goldman’s Liberty Bonds will come from the state’s portion of those funds, according to Mr. Carrier, and they will require the approval of the Empire State Development Corporation, a state entity.

The city sales tax breaks may require approval of the city’s Industrial Development Agency, according to the executive director of the Fiscal Policy Institute, Frank Mauro. The board, a wing of the Economic Development Corporation, is headed by Andrew Alper, a former employee of Goldman Sachs who works for the city for $1 a year.

All the talk surrounding the terms of the deal is premature, however, according to the director of Good Jobs New York, Bettina Damiani.

She accused government officials of misrepresenting the status of the deal as completed. She said that the bonds had not yet been issued and that the law requires a public hearing, although she said she doubts public criticism would cause officials to rewrite the deal.

Ms. Damiani testified against the first Goldman deal last September, saying that Goldman did not need the money and that corporations do make location decisions based not on tax breaks, but on other factors, such as the skill of the labor force and access to transportation.

“You are in New York City because this is where you need to be,” Ms. Damiani said in a telephone interview.

A spokesman for Goldman Sachs did not return messages yesterday.