The news around here lately hasn’t been pretty. It seems nearly every story contains mention of budget cuts, positions being eliminated or services curtailed. While all of us make great “Monday morning quarterbacks,” the job is a lot tougher for our elected officials who are used to working with pencils and paper but these days are forced to deal with scissors and scapels. This morning take out your tool of choice and jump into this discussion as well. What programs do you believe are worth preserving, which should be curtailed or where do you plan on finding more revenue to prevent any of it? Remember, money doesn’t grow on trees. And, as you make your decisions also understand that like it or not, we’re probably talking about even less revenue to work with in the years ahead. In other words, this “slash and burn” budget process might become the new norm, and not an exception.