Fiscal restraint in tough times

Inter Lake editorial

It's budget time in businesses around the country, as people plan how to deal with a downturn in the economy that is expected to last through much or all of 2009.

Almost all businesses are trying to make do with less, just as are many families. It's heartening therefore to see that the governor of Montana is also making a sincere effort to be realistic about what is affordable in the coming biennium.

Gov. Brian Schweitzer on Monday announced that he is trimming $140 million from his budget proposal based on more conservative revenue expectations since the budget was first submitted in November. This may or may not be enough to meet the coming crisis, but the governor says he will make more cuts if he has to.

Good for him. It's hard for any politician to say "no" to spending on programs that will help constituents have a better life, but it's harder still to pay for programs with money you don't have.

"We are going to batten down the hatches," Schweitzer said. "I don't know what is coming next, but we are going to be ready for it."

Indeed, the governor is cutting spending at the same time he is leaving a $250 million reserve in place for the 2010-2011 biennium. That makes sense, since the whole idea of a reserve is to help pay expenses when times are tough.

We also applaud the governor for holding the line on tax increases. Since he can't run for re-election, it would be easy for him to tell voters that the downturn has made more taxes inevitable. But for now, it isn't inevitable - at least not as long as someone is willing to make the hard decisions and cut programs instead.

That's what the governor has done, and lots of programs are sharing the burden including $14 million each coming from K-12 and higher education. There are also plans to let more jobs go unfilled in 2009 and to reduce raises for remaining employees.

That's reasonable, and so is asking Republican legislators to hold off on their wish to pass tax decreases in the coming session. The need for property tax reductions is clear in Montana, but this is probably not the time to see it happen.

Still, if the fiscal restraint exercised now pays dividends, we hope the following lesson is learned by future governors and legislators: Government should never spend more money than it needs to, and taxpayers should be able to keep more of their own money whenever possible.