Butler County commissioners are on track to end the year with a $5,000 general fund surplus and poised to approve a balanced budget of $79.2 million for 2013, ending several years of deficit spending and revenue downturns.

Commissioners pledged to balance the budget next year and urged every county department to begin making cuts this year that could be carried over to 2013. The commissioners applauded department heads and office holders Thursday for making difficult cuts, holding down expenditures and taking on additional responsibilities as vacancies went unfilled.

“Some employees are now doing two and three jobs,” said Commissioner Cindy Carpenter. “I deeply appreciate the sacrifice from the employees.”

Thanks to $900,000 in voluntary departmental cuts and higher-than-expected revenues, such as sales tax receipts, Butler County will end 2012 in the black. The county faced a projected general fund deficit of $2 million dollars coming into 2012, but now “It’s “$5,000 to the good,” said Tonyia Burnett, county financial planning manager.

The 2012 general fund projected revenue is $79,258,000 and expenses are expected to end the year at $79,253,000.

“We are trending in the right direction, but we need to continue to keep our eye on our expenditures,” Commission President Don Dixon said.

Dixon added that with all the bad fiscal news in the U.S. right now at least county taxpayers know they “don’t have to worry about the county government being upside down.”

While revenues have been nearly flat the past five years, Young said sales tax is up more than 6 percent in 2012, and they are projecting a continued increase of about two percent through 2014. Other revenue sources, including property taxes, investments, local government funds and prisoner housing have been trending downward, but are projected to remain the same or have slight increases in 2013.

Included in the 2013 budget is $4 million in casino revenue from the state. County Administrator Charles Young said that is 30 percent less than the cut Butler County is estimated to get. The county’s low estimate on the casino revenue is based on 30 percent lower returns this year, Young said.

Following budget hearings in October, Young met with boards and offices that submitted budgets over their goal amounts and asked them to make cuts. Those departments included the prosecutor’s office, coroner’s office, clerk of courts and common pleas court.

Common pleas judges eliminated the court reporters program earlier this month laying off four employees to save $200,000 toward meeting its 2013 budget goal. Young said, as far as he knows, those layoffs were the only ones made in an effort to balance the budget.

A public hearing for the 2013 budget will be held Dec. 27, after which it will be considered by the commission.