State taxpayers have a friend in state Auditor General Jack Wagner — and incoming governor Tom Corbett has a good partner in Wagner when it comes to tackling state spending.

Last week, Wagner stepped forward to question a $1 billion bond request by outgoing Gov. Ed Rendell that would add $82 million a year in interest payments to the state’s already strained budget. About Rendell’s parting bond proposal, Wagner said, “It is not in the best interest of taxpayers.”

The lame-duck spending request from Rendell also was questioned by state Treasurer Rob McCord, who said he would look to Corbett before he would approve the massive new borrowing. Approval from either Wagner or McCord is required before the bond sale can proceed.

The bond request would continue funding on various projects, including bridges, university dormitories and prisons, but it’s been estimated by some state officials that something closer to a $500 million bond issue would be adequate.

On Friday, Wagner withheld support for a scaled-back $650 million request from Rendell. McCord, however, said he will allow the bond issue to proceed.

As many have noted, Rendell’s record of spending and piling up debt is cause for concern. The state’s debt burden has increased 40 percent since 2002. And Philadelphia Daily News columnist John Baer noted that state interest payments have tripled under Rendell.

Baer, arguing that the $1 billion is well above what is needed, suggested someone in Rendell’s administration must have been adding up projects to fund and said, “Oh, what the hell, let’s just make it a billion.”

Baer also suggested that the outside bond counsel fee, which would go to a Philadelphia law firm where Rendell’s former campaign finance director happens to work, would make for a very nice year-end bonus.

Wagner has done state taxpayers a service by questioning the need for taking on additional, and possibly unnecessary, debt when the state is facing a budget shortfall of $4 billion or more.

Given his concerns over excessive or ineffective spending, Wagner looks like the right person in the right job at the right time to help Corbett trim the state budget.

It’s inevitable that Corbett will have to cut state spending. But Wagner, by scrutinizing existing expenditures, might reduce the depth of the cuts by revealing unnecessary or inefficient spending.

One example of this came earlier in the year when Wag-ner suggested improper Medicaid spending that he estimated at 15 percent of the total. Department of Public Welfare officials admit to a lower level of improper payments. Still, potential savings could be more than $400 million a year.

Wagner is acting as if he’s looking out for the spending of his own money. His concerns about waste and unnecessary spending should be shared by more elected officials in Harrisburg — and Washington. Spending other people’s money is too easy for too many officials.

Wagner, a Democrat, is demonstrating that he will be a good partner for Republican Corbett as he takes office next month facing huge budget problems, much like the governors in most other states. Corbett will need to make tough decisions when it comes to spending cuts, but with Wagner’s help making sure that existing state spending is effective and necessary, the pain caused by the cuts can be minimized.

Wagner and Corbett should make a good team — for taxpayers, and for putting Pennsylvania on a sustainable path for the future.