Saxonburg Borough Council made a difficult decision last Thursday in opting to eliminate one of the borough’s two full-time police positions, effective Dec. 31, in order to save $16,000 in benefit costs, to help balance the 2011 budget.

The borough will try to navigate the new year with additional part-time police help that would not necessitate paying for benefits such as hospitalization insurance coverage.

The point is that borough officials, when facing less money to work with, were willing to make a tough choice. Rather than raising the borough’s property tax, putting additional financial pressure on borough property owners, the council chose to live within its means and cut spending.

In addition to the elimination of the full-time police position, the council deferred building upgrades planned for the coming year and won’t be adding to the vehicle replacement fund.

Saxonburg is a small community, but in this instance it has delivered a big message that should be heeded by the state and federal governments:

When money is tight, spending should reflect the available resources.

But rather than make wise money decisions, the federal government does the easy thing. It merely adds to the budget deficit, which eventually adds to the national debt.

In this state, the General Assembly, which is required to pass a balanced budget, does on the surface do that. However, state residents, witnessing the troubling state revenue-collection numbers released periodically during the fiscal year, and witnessing the annual budget battles, are justified in wondering how a fiscal picture seemingly so out of balance can be rectified with so little evidence of deep spending cuts.

The question then is whether state politicians are being completely honest about the money foundation that is supporting the budget.

In Saxonburg, council president Bill Gillespie acknowledged the difficulty of the decision to eliminate the full-time status of the police officer in question, Curt Suprano, who joined the department in 2002 and whose current annual salary is $42,500.

“There were members of the council who did not want to see a tax increase under any circumstance,” Gillespie said.

He said the council did not want to pile onto residents’ expenses, and that attitude is admirable — although time will tell, based on what happens in the borough beyond Dec. 31, whether the police position decision was correct.

Nevertheless, the council, given the borough’s financial circumstances, was willing to make a difficult decision.

The state and federal governments would be better off if that kind of attitude embraced them.