Oklahoma finance officials, concerned over sagging tax revenues, cut spending so much in recent months that the state will end its fiscal year in two weeks with a cash surplus likely to top $100 million.

That amounts to a rare bit of good news on the state financial front, but it also means painful funding cutbacks were larger than they needed to be, including for agencies serving the mentally ill and the elderly.

Shelly Paulk, deputy budget director, said through 11 months of the fiscal year, the general revenue fund surplus is $166.6 million. Allowing for the possibility of further declines this month, the state will likely end the fiscal year with more than $100 million.

She said the money will likely be returned to state agencies in proportion to how much they were cut during two revenue failures that led to across-the-board spending reductions of 3 percent in December and 4 percent in March.