When tough times create a budget crunch, the federal government can borrow (or print) money. The state government can cut aid to local governments. But those local governments are at the end of the line - they can do little but cut services and reach into their reserves.

That's more or less what County Executive John R. Leopold had to do last week when he rolled out a proposed $1.17-billion fiscal 2010 operating budget. It's a genuinely frugal plan that slices spending by $48.4 million - a 4 percent reduction from this year.

Year-by-year budget increases have become so ingrained that many have fallen into the habit of...