Like other metro counties, Fulton is now facing the hard facts of declining revenues in a recession and the tough choices to be made as a result.

Fulton County's been living off a budget surplus but by the end of the year, it will be gone leaving the county with a $27.1 million gap. The county started the year with a $59.7 million surplus. The county's 2009 projected expenditures is $665.8 million.

So far, Fulton commissioners have maintained the 2008 millage rate which was doable since at the time the county had a surplus..That's gone now.

With the county on a calendar year budget, Commissioners will release a proposed 2010 spending plan Dec. 15. Department heads are being asked to explain with 5 percent and 10 percent cuts would do to their operations.

The Gwinnett County Commission, when faced with a budget shortfall, made deep cuts in county services despite howls of protest from some residents. But they chose to make spending cuts rather than raise property taxes.

Fulton County joins the state and other county and city governments in having to make spending cuts. Cutting government spending is always good for taxpayers in any economic environment. That it's necessary now isn't bad news. Would that the commissioners might even take a look at their own $3.2 million budget and find a dollar or two they can live without.