Washtenaw County ended 2012 with a budget surplus the staff wasn’t expecting, meaning it will have more money to work with as it faces a structural deficit in its next budget cycle.

The county was planning to end 2012 by contributing $1.89 million to its fund balance. Because it ended with an overall surplus of $2.26 million, it was able to add an extra $372,607 to its general fund.

The Washtenaw County Administration Building on Main Street in Ann Arbor.

Chris Asadian | AnnArbor.com file photo

The county brought in about $540,000 more in property tax revenue in 2012 than it anticipated, the majority of which was accomplished through the county’s conservative budget estimate for the revenue for the year, said Tina Gavalier, the county's financial advisor.

That figure was slightly offset by a $686,934 shortfall in the budget for the sheriff’s office -- about 92 percent of which is a result of the delay in the consolidation of police dispatch services with the city of Ann Arbor.

About $52,000 of the shortfall in the sheriff’s department budget was due to overtime reimbursement rates, Gavalier said.

The police dispatch consolidation is projected to save both the county and city money, but a delay in the planned implementation date caused the county to initially have to pay out more than it intended.

“The county is stepping up to the plate and putting forward resources to help that consolidation go forward because we believe in this regional approach,” said Commissioner Yousef Rabhi, D-Ann Arbor. “We’re making an investment for the sake of regionalism.”

In particular, the sheriff’s office was able to improve an initially negative outlook for its budget from the first quarter by eliminating $695,000 that the department originally was projected to be over budget.

The sheriff’s office ended the year with a modest $25,000 surplus due to strategically not filling open positions, lower than budgeted spending and using a medical reserve fund to offset health care costs for inmates.

Overall, the county had a $797,970 revenue surplus for 2012. Coupled with expenditures -- in which the county saw significant savings -- the county has a positive surplus in its expenditure budget of $1.46 million.

Those surplus savings came in the form of $336,000 saved in personnel costs through attrition, position vacancies and planned reductions, as well as departmental operating savings of $309,000.

Gavalier gave the Board of Commissioners a year-end budget update for 2012 at its Ways and Means meeting Wednesday night.

• View the budget presentation

In the following full board meeting Wednesday, the board approved 10-year-long contracts with five of its unions and a five-year-long contract with another of its unions.

Amy Biolchini covers Washtenaw County, health and environmental issues for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at (734) 623-2552, amybiolchini@annarbor.com or on Twitter.