Raise taxes or cut expenses – or both. Those are the hard decisions facing Madison County and Anderson City government. The city projects it will have a $3.5 million budget shortfall by the end of 2009, even after previously planned budget cuts. And the county projects a $3.8 million deficit.

Both entities took steps in the right direction Thursday to meet huge budget deficits by reducing workforce. “This is painful stuff, and it’s difficult stuff,” said Anderson Board of Public Works Chairman Greg Graham.

He’s right about that; nobody likes to see jobs lost. But when it comes to government, the first responsibility is to the taxpayer. Government exists to serve the public, not to employ people.

The city, according to Graham, recently laid off two police department employees and two Municipal Development Department employees. This coming after the city council voted to raise the county option income tax, or COIT, by 0.5 percent, which would mean an extra $200 annually in taxes for a Madison County resident earning $40,000.

The county council, meanwhile, voted Thursday to lay off 25 employees, which could save about $1 million in the budget, according to council member Gary Gustin. The council also requested that the judges give back $2,000 of their $5,000 stipend, and the judges complied. Judges had come under public pressure to forfeit the money after they objected to the council’s original vote to do away with the stipend, saying it was a matter of violating the state’s constitution, which says that sitting judges cannot have their pay reduced.

Voluntary pay cuts are important symbolically, but they barely make a dent in the anticipated $3.8 million budget deficit the county faces. Layoffs were a grim necessity.

Personnel and budget cuts at both the city and the county are good signs that officials understand their responsibility to the taxpayer. However, the seemingly unstoppable march toward increasing the COIT tax indicates they still aren’t committed to making government as lean as possible.

Anderson and Alexandria city councils have both approved the potential 0.5 percent increase, meaning it will take effect countywide if the county council or the Elwood city council pass it, too. The county council will consider Monday on whether to increase the COIT tax.

Council members need to step back and reevaluate the situation. Do they really want to add more local taxes when unemployment is high and folks across Madison County are already dealing with pay cuts, devalued investments and other financial hardships?

Yes, government personnel cuts and pay cuts are painful to those who endure them. But, given that government exists to serve people – and not the other way around – the budgets shouldn’t be balanced on the backs of taxpayers.