Indiana closes year with $2.1 billion in cash reserves

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INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana's state government is sitting on cash reserves of $2.15 billion following a year of continued budget cuts and improved tax collections.

That number is larger than what Gov. Mitch Daniels estimated last week and will send more to the state teacher's pension fund and in tax credits to Indiana taxpayers. State auditor Tim Berry released the detailed figures Thursday for the fiscal year that ended June 30.

Berry said much of that reserve was built from tax collections which grew by 6.4 percent over the previous year. The Daniels administration also cut $316 million in spending.

The budget wrap-up also accounts for more than a half-billion dollars in tax collection mistakes discovered by the Daniels administration which balanced out to roughly $200 million more for the state last year.