It’s not necessarily a big deal that the Warren County Commissioners are dealing with a temporary gap between tax collections and bills that are coming due.

That can happen to governments at all levels. Budgets can be shifted, savings used or short-term borrowing used to close those gaps. It’s usually such a routine action that most taxpayers never know it happens.

But there are a couple of things that led to the commissioners’ decision last week to institute a soft hiring freeze and commissioner approval of expenses totaling more than $500 that are noteworthy.

One is decreased tax revenue as corporate-driven, court-ordered tax assessment decreases take effect. Again, it’s not uncommon for companies to ask courts for lower tax assessments. The problem is when there are several of those decreases at the same time combined with a lack of major new development. Add large swaths of land being taken off the tax rolls by the state Game Commission and the situation becomes worrisome.

When revenues are uncertain, every spending increase has to be eyed cautiously – including union contracts that seem affordable in a vacuum but become a headache once they take effect.

It’s hard for a government to cut its way to prosperity. Growing the tax base helps pay for the inevitable cost increases that are the cost of doing business for all of us in both the public and private sectors. What’s happening with the Warren County Commissioners right now is a byproduct of a lack of growth in our tax base – and that is the big deal with the county’s hiring freeze and tighter controls on spending.