POUGHKEEPSIE – Dutchess County government spent less than it budgeted last year and its unappropriated fund balance was untapped as a result.  Sales tax revenues are also up so far this year by eight percent and foreclosures appear to be down.

County Finance Commissioner Valerie Sommerville briefed the Budget and Finance Committee of the county legislature Thursday evening.

“We ended 2010 with total revenues of $436.7 million and total expenditures of $427.8 million for a positive difference of $8.9 million. This means we did not have to use the $12.6 million in general fund balance that was in the 2010 budget,” she said.

Sommerville said state mandates continue to drive up the cost of county government and she said it is too soon to tell what impact the new state two percent cap will have on county government.