A budget doesn't plow snow-covered roads. A budget doesn't wait for speeders on a country lane, or protect communities from crime. A budget doesn't fight fires, build bridges, or educate children. A budget doesn't do work.

People work. And people should be treated better than a budget.

Like Eric Samson, in whatever title he now has with the Androscoggin County Sheriff's Office. The county commissioners, in their finite wisdom, are treating Samson as a budget line, rather than a living, breathing person, by forcing him into an insulting pay cut.

So, the same community that desired an additional patrol deputy at night, regardless of cost, is now scratching its cumulative head at the commission's dickering regarding Samson's salary.

We wanted more policing, they say, and we agreed to pay for it. Yet the commission acts like we objected to this cost, by trying to force Samson - whose job performance is unblemished - to accept an illogical cut in salary.

Why? The answer has nothing to do with public sentiments, or anything "personal" at all. The commission is acting as if people - which support the budget, and the budget supports - fail to exist.

There is no Samson, just a salary. There are no taxpayers, just tax bills and tax payments.

This shortsighted approach is expected from the visionless county leaders. It is already deplorable the commission meets in a room without windows, but worse when they behave like there's no world outside.

But people get the government they deserve, so they deserve this county commission. Saying this feels as fair as saying Charlie Brown deserves to have Lucy Van Pelt pull the football away, but it is Charlie to who tries to kick it.

So every time these commissioners act in clear defiance (or ignorance) of the people's will, and put budgets over people, the public must realize - as Charlie Brown never has - that we put ourselves in this position to fail.

The question now is how much more can the people stand.

This board fought an additional patrol deputy, although it was in the budget. This board criticized the sheriff office's staffing, when several members attended a memorial service for a fallen colleague, Sgt. David Rancourt.

This board, time and again, doesn't recognize its duty isn't counting every bean, but ensuring beans are well-spent, and the work of government - providing services - is done efficiently and effectively.

And this board has excruciatingly put budget constraints above correct policy decisions. We're all for fiscal restraint, but the county is exercising fiscal strangulation.

This board is not doing the people's work.

This board doesn't realize people work at all.