INDIANAPOLIS -- Indiana has finished in the black financially for the third straight year, according to figures released Thursday.

Auditor Tim Berry said Indiana ended the fiscal year with a surplus of more than $1.4 billion, 6News' Norman Cox reported.

Berry credited spending restraint by the governor and the Legislature. State spending increased 3.9 percent from the previous year.

Sales tax collections for the first two months under the 7 percent rate did not increase by as much as expected, but Berry said that will not endanger the property tax relief program that the sales tax pays for.

"The payment has already been made that's providing that property tax relief this year," Berry said. "We made that advance payment on July 1 to ensure that taxpayers knew that that tax relief was there, and so that counties knew."

Gov. Mitch Daniels echoed Berry's statements.

"The law provides that every penny of property tax relief happens. If the sales tax slows up a little bit, then we'll have to economize elsewhere in government. The taxpayers will get the relief they were promised," Daniels said.

State agencies that kept vacant positions open and a delay in some capital projects also contributed to the surplus.

Indiana had almost $600 million in its main checking account on June 30.

Berry said 32 states, including all of Indiana's neighbors, are struggling with budget deficits this year.