Lehigh County Executive Tom Muller announced March 26 the fiscal close out of 2014 for the county looks much better than initially anticipated.

Based on preliminary numbers, the county expects to end 2014 $2.3 million less than what was budgeted.

"This strong fiscal performance is a result of the hard work that Lehigh County employees do every day," Muller said.

The favorable close out is due primarily to $7.8 million in savings last fall, including bond refinancing, closure of the juvenile detention center, reduction in the required contribution to the county pension fund and the largest personnel reduction in the county in the last 10 years.

The county workforce now stands at 1,973 as compared to 2,200 employees in 1990.