One of the most basic functions of government on all levels is to pass a budget. For Pennsylvania state government, the deadline for budget approval is June 30.

But for the fifth straight year, the state started its new fiscal calendar Sunday without a new spending package in place — this year despite a healthy money picture in the form of $409 million over projected revenue collections through the end of May.

State residents are justified in being angry about the failure of the legislature and Gov. Ed Rendell to carry out this basic, albeit critically important, responsibility for which they are being paid. A revival of the taxpayer disgust that followed the middle-of-the-night legislative pay raise approved in July 2005 is in order.

And, taxpayer anger again should be vented at the ballot box — next year, when state offices again will be before the voters.

There are serious potential consequences tied to the failure to pass the state's budget on time. Although critical functions of the government will continue, Rendell administration officials have said that by Thursday plans will move ahead to shut down other services and furlough as many as 40,000 state workers classified as "nonessential" because of not being tied to critical services.

Whether the services they seek are critical to state operations or not, state residents aren't going to be happy when they try to access non-critical services and learn that they'll have to wait until who-knows-when for those services to resume.

Perhaps there are more positive signs of an impending agreement behind the scenes than what is being projected to the public at this point. It is to be hoped that's the case.

But now, despite the healthy money picture, the legislature is locked in a stalemate with Rendell over complicated, big-ticket side issues that Rendell has demanded that lawmakers pass with the $27 billion-plus budget. They include new funding for highways and mass transit, biotechnology research centers and civic development projects.

In addition, proposed measures are on the table regarding alternative energy and fuels, expanding duties of certain health professionals and banning cigarette smoking in public and private buildings and workplaces.

Charges of lack of leadership, lack of desire to compromise and too much foot-dragging have been leveled in response to the inability to achieve an on-time budget settlement. All three are accurate.

While policy differences are understandable, there is plenty of time to resolve them leading up to the budget deadline. Perhaps if lawmakers were paid a modest salary without the generous perks that now accompany their positions, they would have the incentive to go to the state capital, do their jobs expeditiously and go home to pursue other employment responsibilities.

Instead, Harrisburg's current method of operation is built on partisan politics and lawmakers' what's-in-it-for-me attitude. Constituents' best interests, including having the state's fiscal issues settled on time, are secondary.

Lawmakers and Rendell ought to be embarrassed over their inability to forge an on-time settlement. And, lawmakers don't deserve any per-diem pay for the extra days they will spend in the state capital completing what should have been done by Saturday evening.

Even with a healthy money supply, Pennsylvania officials cannot make the yearly budget exercise as manageable as it ought to be.