The job our county officials have done on the proposed general fund budget for 2008 seems too good to be true.

For the first time in years, the commissioners do not plan to use reserve funds to balance the budget. Instead, their stated policy is to keep the amount of expenditures equal to or less than annual revenues.

The county’s general fund has not always ended each year with a deficit, but planning not to have one is a welcome change.

In 2003 and 2004, the general fund actually had a surplus. Spending had been reduced in 2003 after the slowing economy had lowered expectations of revenue increases.

By 2006, the county commissioners had gone back to their old ways, and the year ended with a $3.7 million deficit in the general fund and an even bigger deficit projected for this year.

Since most general fund spending is for employee compensation, the principal cause of the deficit is no surprise. The county added a number of employees equivalent to 62 full-time positions — an 8 percent increase.

A look back at the past few years illustrates what happens when the commissioners do not plan to keep spending in line with revenue.

One way to estimate the need for higher spending is to add the percentage change in inflation to the percentage change in population over a period of time. The result indicates roughly how many more dollars are needed to account for inflation and meet the additional demand for services.

Starting with the last census in 2000 and going through 2006, the estimated population increase in Kitsap County was 5.53 percent.

The average annual rate of increase was 0.77 percent.

Based on the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers in the Seattle, Tacoma and Bremerton area, inflation rose by 15.85 percent from 2000 through 2006. The average annual increase was 2.48 percent.

Combining those two, the number of dollars needed to keep pace with population and inflation rose by 21.4 percent.

If spending during those years had increased by roughly 21 or 22 percent, it would be easy to see that inflation and rising demand for services by a greater number of residents explained the higher spending.

But spending rose even more. From 2000 through 2006, general fund expenditures increased by 35.4 percent.

Meanwhile, general fund revenues increased by 31.9 percent. So, even though revenues increased by more than population and inflation added together, the county could not balance its budget without using reserve funds.

Looking back over this period of six years, the magnitude of the change in budget policy becomes clear.

Planning to control spending over the long term, rather than in fits and starts, requires an entirely different approach.

Just bringing current spending into line with available revenue required a significant change in the way the county determines the total compensation of its employees.

Rather than make a “cost-of-living adjustment” in wages and salaries equal to inflation and also pay far more to provide the same level of medical benefits, the county and its employees worked out an agreement to limit medical benefits payments to the same level in 2008 as has been paid in 2007.

Total compensation will still go up, but not by as much as would have been the case under the previous agreements between the county and its employees.

Many people tend to think only of the amount stated on a paycheck as their compensation, but the value of retirement and medical benefits payments cannot be ignored.

Unless the tax payers are able to provide enough additional revenue each year to continue making large increases in total compensation, the county’s compensation policy has to change.

The change made for 2008 may be more substantial than will be required in future years, since eliminating the deficit makes a big change necessary.

Once the deficit is eliminated, avoiding a deficit in future years is not as hard. Instead of dropping down to the level of current revenue, the task becomes staying even with future revenue increases.

Total revenues have been increasing since 2000 at roughly 4.7 percent a year. It should be easier to limit annual spending increases to about 4.7 percent than it was to get spending down in the first place.

It should be easier, but that doesn’t mean it will happen. The pressure to spend more is relentless.

Restraining the urge to spend more can only be done if the commissioners steadfastly maintain over the long term the budget policy they set for the coming year.

They will have to insist that the budget proposals prepared by their subordinates fit the policy of balancing revenues and expenditures.

For now, our elected county officials and their subordinates deserve our congratulations and thanks.

Let’s hope they continue to deserve it as they struggle with the urge to spend more than we can afford in the future.

Robert Meadows is a Port Orchard resident.