As we loosen our belts from Thanksgiving, belt-tightening is the new rage in Augusta.

Thanksgiving has come and gone, and beyond many of us overindulging in turkey and needing to loosen our belts a bit, we likely also took a brief moment to express thanks for the blessings in our lives.

We use this holiday to recall the more important things and set other things aside.

The comfort of overindulgence, though, is soon to be replaced by a heightened emphasis on belt-tightening this coming week: The Legislature is back in town.

This week, the 124th Maine Legislature convenes in Augusta to begin the dirty work of wrestling an $150 million revenue shortfall this fiscal year and a larger amount in a structural gap for the upcoming biennial budget. (Structural gap being a fancy phrase for plans for spending exceeding projected taxes and revenue coming into the state.)

Belt-tightening isn’t only a phenomenon soon to be witnessed in the halls of Augusta; town and city halls across the state will soon wrestle with their own shortfalls, due to the weakening economy and slowing of economic activity.

For those that have watched the growth in expenditures in state and local budgets over recent decades, the image of people sitting around a table overindulging, perhaps in turkey, seems accurate. We are thankful for the great things in our communities and state, though we may not invest strategically, or proportionately, in priorities in good times.

When the economy is healthy, revenues to government grow and provide opportunities for new programs and new ideas to be tried at all levels of government.

When the economy struggles, like now, revenues decline and create a challenge: Which programs and services should go and which should stay? Let alone considering the levels of funding those programs should get.

Are roads and bridges more or less important than social welfare programs? Is the question that simple?

Is funding of parking garages in a municipality to support development more or less important than scaling back on another local service?

Perhaps it’s a stretch to compare emotions of Thanksgiving to struggles of balancing state and local budgets and reducing the tax burden on residents in these difficult times. Or, perhaps it is the best place to start.

If we questioned our elected officials on what they believe we value most in our communities and in this state, their answer should reflect how they will approach balancing these budgets.

What we value in turn becomes our priority. While some programs, services, or piece of infrastructure might be nice to have, is it required for us to make it through these difficult times?

On the other hand, some programs, services and infrastructure could be critically important to making advances in areas that make our communities unique and competitive for investment and growth even in a difficult economy.

When newspaper stories and press releases declare across-the-board cuts of an equal amount, similar to the 10 percent reductions recently required from Augusta, that does not demonstrate an ability to set priorities and make the hard decisions to keep Maine and our region moving.

During good times, we all want to fight for our piece of the turkey, and it is often easier to get. During tough times, leadership demands we make difficult decisions and invest in our priorities. We should all prepare to help make those in office make those decisions.

It won’t be easy.

Jonathan LaBonte, of New Auburn, is a columnist for the Sun Journal. E-mail: [email protected].