Gov. Neil Abercrombie announced Friday that the state posted a record $844 million budget surplus at the close of the fiscal year last June, fresh evidence of the state’s economic rebound.

The record surplus was mostly the result of increased tax revenue from the surge in tourism since the recession, combined with state spending reductions and labor savings from public workers. The surplus for fiscal year 2013 surpassed the previous record of $732 million posted under Gov. Linda Lingle at the end of fiscal year 2006.

Abercrombie said the surplus marked a $1 billion turnaround in the state’s finances from when he took office three years ago facing a projected $220 million deficit. But the governor was careful to explain that his administration intends to use the opportunity to replenish emergency reserves and pay down the unfunded liability in the public-worker health care fund, not splurge on many new programs.

"The days of running away from our responsibilities are over," the governor said at a Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii luncheon at the Plaza Club downtown. "We’ve put in a solid, long-term financial plan that we believe will withstand anybody’s scrutiny in terms of its viability."

Abercrombie has made the state’s improved economic outlook the foundation of his re-election campaign next year. As the state’s chief executive, Abercrombie — as Lingle did — receives disproportionate credit and blame for the state’s economy even though state government often plays a relatively minor role in the economic cycle.

Abercrombie was less ebullient about the record surplus than Lingle, a Republican who famously said during her State of the State address in 2006 when she was running for re-election: "I view it as a chance to literally have it all."

Abercrombie, a Democrat, must share credit with majority Democrats in the state Legislature, particularly state Sen. David Ige (D, Pearl Harbor-Pearl City-Aiea), his rival in the primary. Ige, chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, and state Rep. Sylvia Luke (D, Punchbowl-Pauoa-Nuuanu), chairwoman of the House Finance Committee, crafted a two-year state budget with less spending than Abercrombie had requested, which contributes to the projected budget surpluses in the governor’s six-year financial plan.

Ige was also instrumental in a new law that for the first time requires the state and counties to make annual payments toward the unfunded liability in the public-worker health care fund. Two years ago the Legislature agreed to change pension benefits for newly hired public workers to help contain the unfunded liability in the pension fund.

Abercrombie said those measures, which he signed into law, have helped Hawaii avoid the kind of pension and health care emergencies that have cast Detroit into bankruptcy and Illinois into debt crisis.

The governor vowed that "we will not be Detroit. We will not be Illinois. There are cities across the country right now that are trying to get into bankruptcy. Can you imagine? It’s like an NBA team — a basketball team — that’s trying to lose games so they get the first pick (in the draft)."

Abercrombie and Kalbert Young, the state’s budget director, assured the Chamber of Commerce that the state would address the unfunded liabilities in the pension and health care funds over 30 years without raising taxes. County leaders, however, have warned that counties may be forced to raise taxes if they are unable to keep up with the required annual payments for the health care fund.

Young outlined a state economy that is likely near the peak of recovery, with unemployment at 4.4 percent — compared with 7.3 percent nationally — and the real estate and construction sectors showing healthy signs of growth. He predicted that tourism would continue to thrive, although not at the growth rates of the past few years, and that the military presence in the islands would remain strong despite the threat of looming federal defense cuts.

Young said the state’s aggressive construction budget — $2.2 billion this fiscal year — would help rebuild the state’s infrastructure for the next economic cycle.

Young said the state is replenishing the hurricane relief fund and the rainy day fund with the goal of eventually building emergency reserves to about 10 percent of general-fund revenues, double the amount set aside before the recession.

The state completed an $860 million bond sale in late November and has received positive remarks from credit-rating agencies, which have noticed, in particular, the state’s attempt to address the unfunded pension and health care liabilities.

Abercrombie will present his supplemental budget to the Legislature on Dec. 16, and Ige will have a significant influence over whether it is approved.

"Obviously, we are proud of that number," Ige said of the record $844 million surplus. "I think it’s more a function of the fact that we rejected a lot of tax and fee increases and really focused on downsizing government."

Ige and others have noted with caution that the two-year budget as now drafted presumes the state will spend $145.9 million more than it takes in during fiscal year 2014 and $341 million more than it takes in during fiscal year 2015.

Some of the money will be used to replenish emergency reserves and pay down the unfunded health care liability, but the state could be stretched if the economy dips or federal spending cuts are severe. Public worker pay raises could also place a strain on the state’s finances if tax revenue does not come in as expected.

"I still think that the economy is just recovering," Ige said, "but we’re not out of the woods."