In an era of shrinking budgets, the District’s government has an unusual fiscal conundrum: It has millions more dollars than anticipated, and the looming fight for city leaders is about how to spend extra cash, not how to find — or cut — more of it.

Before Mayor Vincent Gray announced a $240 million surplus from 2011 two weeks ago, the D.C. Council was already planning a battle with the city’s chief executive over the extra $42 million the District expects to rake in this year.