In any other year we’d say, ho-hum: They did it again. But this is no ordinary year.

On Wednesday, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra announced that it had balanced its budget for the fifth year in a row. 

In fact, during the past 15 years, the SPCO has failed to make its financial nut only once -- during the 2002-03 season.

On an operating budget of $12.5 million, the SPCO reported a surplus of $127,000 for the fiscal year that ended on June 30.  Compare that to the Minnesota Orchestra, which last week reported a balanced budget -- its second in a row -- with just $15,000 to spare on a budget of $31 million.

The SPCO already has earmarked the hundred-grand-plus surplus to pay off what accounting wizards call “accumulated deficit” from that red-ink season of five years ago.  As a result, the SPCO now operates with none of the debts and deficits that yoke many other orchestras around the country.

The SPCO reported an 8 percent increase in “subscriber households” during the 2007-2008 season and paid attendance at 85 percent of capacity. But these figures reflect a number of factors. One was the addition of a neighborhood concert series that opened up new performing venues in Apple Valley, Arden Hills and New Brighton.

Just as significantly, the orchestra launched a kind of cheap-seat program, called “club2030.” Aimed at cultivating younger audiences, the program offered $10 concert tickets to people in their 20s and 30s -- and about 2,000 people took up the offer and joined the club.

In all, about 104,000 people attended SPCO concerts. By contrast, attendance at Minnesota Orchestra concerts was basically flat. Both orchestras held their expenses down -- the Minnesota Orchestra to a 1.3 percent increase and the SPCO to an expense growth of 3.2 percent. Both managed to increase contributions.

The SPCO increased its contributed income from individuals by 7 percent and from corporations by 3 percent -- adding to a $1.7 million growth in annual fund giving in the past eight years. Its annual fund now stands at $4.24 million, compared with the Minnesota Orchestra’s $14.4 million.

In all, a good year for both orchestras. Clouds remain on the horizon, of course, as the impact of the spiraling recession deepens.