The City Council speaker, Gifford Miller, received twice as much in public campaign money as any of the other mayoral candidates, the city’s Campaign Finance Board said last night as it released the first round of matching funds.

The city doled out nearly $13.5 million in taxpayer money to the 53 candidates across the five boroughs who qualified for matching funds. If a candidate meets certain criteria set by the finance board, the city program matches each dollar a city resident donates, up to $250 per contributor, with $4 in public funds, up to a maximum of $1,000 per contributor. The total amount each candidate can receive in matching funds is capped at 55% of the spending limit in the race. Higher matches apply to candidates whose opponents are not participating in the public campaign-financing system.

Mr. Miller received nearly $2.5 million in matching funds, followed by rival candidates Fernando Ferrer, Anthony Weiner, and C.Virginia Fields, who each collected $1.2 million. Eight of the candidates in the hotly contested race for Manhattan borough president received a total of roughly $3.5 million. Receiving the largest matches were Assemblyman Scott Stringer, $669,849, and Council Member Eva Moskowitz, $592,637.

Noticeably absent from that group was a City Council member, Margarita Lopez, whose funds were withheld. A spokesman for the Campaign Finance Board cited an outstanding claim from the 2001 election.

In a statement, Ms. Lopez characterized the outstanding claim as a “minor bookkeeping error” and said the board “is in the process of resolving an audit resulting from my 2001 campaign.”

The infusion of nearly $2.5 million into Mr. Miller’s campaign puts him in better financial shape than the other Democrats in the race. With the addition of public matching funds, according to the latest campaign-finance summaries, Mr. Miller’s war chest contains more than $5 million. Mr. Ferrer has more than $3.5 million, Mr. Weiner less than $3 million, and Ms. Fields more than $1.5 million.

Mayor Bloomberg, who is not participating in the campaign-finance program and is financing his campaign with his own fortune, reported in his last filing having spent more than $23 million.

Council Member Maria del Carmen Arroyo, who was elected to her Bronx district in a recent special election, did not qualify for matching funds because she had raised less than $5,000.

Comptroller William Thompson’s challenger in the Democratic primary, Assemblyman James Brennan of Brooklyn, missed the $125,000 threshold for the comptroller’s seat by less than $25,000.

Council Member David Weprin, a Democrat of Queens, was the only candidate who was eligible for matching funds but declined them.