Spending: The legislative mandate?

Make no mistake about it, government is growing in the state of Montana this year, just as it does every time the Legislature is in session.

Certainly, a degree of government growth is as inevitable as inflation. Everybody understands that the cost of doing business goes up continuously, so a degree of budget growth can be justified.

But what's happening in Helena this time around goes far beyond that. There is growth fueled by a $1 billion budget surplus and there is growth, as well, for a variety of causes.

Gov. Brian Schweitzer came out with a budget that would increase state government spending by 22 percent, and even those lean mean Republicans have a spending package that amounts to a 13 percent spending increase. The final product will probably be somewhere in between.

But in the flurry of the session so far, some head scratchers have emerged.

The administration's proposal to increase the Department of Revenue's budget by a whopping 45 percent, with 100 new positions, probably tops the list. And at the request of the department, legislators have drafted bills that would make 51 additions to the Montana Tax Code.

There are bills to regulate and license private rehabilitation schools, marriage and family therapists, and even scaffold hangers.

There's a bill to pay classified school employees summer unemployment benefits.

There's a bill mandating full-day kindergarten, expected to increase annual spending by up to $27 million.

The list goes on and on for our growing government. Some of it may be justified. But we wish, we hope, that the legislative process produces at least some checks and restraints in the end.

What needs to be remembered about the "surplus" is that it is actually excess tax collection, plain and simple. Legislators need to keep that in mind in the weeks to come. There is no obligation to spend money just because you have it, especially on continuing programs. Otherwise, today's bounty will quickly become tomorrow's deficit.