Nov. 12 looks to be a good day for Seven Fields taxpayers. That's the day the borough council has set for final approval of the 2008 budget, which, as currently projected, provides for a 1-mill reduction in the property tax, to 7 mills.

In most instances, when a community increases taxes, that tax hike remains in place forever.

However, in Seven Fields' case, the council approved a 2-mill increase to fund the 2007 budget — specifically, to provide additional money to pay rising costs for police, fire protection and employee insurance — but now finds it possible to reduce that increase by half.

That reduction is being made possible by a bond refinancing and tight fiscal management, the council said.

But the tax reduction isn't going to curtail the council's improvement plans. The council intends to continue the 10-year street resurfacing project, which is in its sixth year. There also will be renovation work on the swimming pool, replacement of street signs on the borough's north side, and replacement of a public works truck.

The borough doesn't face many of the challenges most older communities in the county are encountering, but what's happening in Seven Fields now will help avoid problems later.

Communities never should be content with the status quo. Over time, that attitude comes back to haunt municipalities that embrace it.

To its credit, Seven Fields isn't one of them.

Legislation aimed at banning bonuses for Pennsylvania state government workers shouldn't include an exemption for employees of the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency. Unfortunately, legislation before the General Assembly contains such an exemption.State Auditor General Jack Wag-ner is correct that lawmakers should eliminate language in the measure that would allow annual "incentive payments" for PHEAA employees who meet specific performance goals.The bill, which passed the Senate Wednesday, is awaiting a vote in the House State Government Committee."Pay people what they deserve to be paid and eliminate the bonuses," Wagner said.Wagner's office is conducting a performance audit of PHEAA that has found that PHEAA spent more than $7.5 million on employee bonsues since July 2004.PHEAA spokesman Keith New said the other day that the agency has suspended the practice of granting bonuses, but that's no reason for lawmakers to exclude PHEAA from the legislation currently before them.Whatever happened to the premise of PHEAA employees being content with the pay they are receiving to do a good job? Apparently it got lost amid the myriad self-interests pervading Harrisburg these days, many of which are geared toward benefiting the lawmakers themselves and members of their staffs.

America's taxpayers doled out $8.5 million in connection with a NASA survey of pilots, but NASA has been withholding the study's findings on the basis of fear that those findings would upset air travelers and negatively impact airline profits.NASA needs a serious attitude adjustment on this issue.The Associated Press has learned that, among other findings, the surveyed pilots reported at least twice as many bird strikes, near mid-air collisions and runway incursions as other government monitoring systems show. The survey also reportedly revealed higher-than-expected numbers of pilots who experienced potentially dangerous, last-minute instructions to alter landing plans.It was Thomas Luedtke, NASA associate administrator, who said revealing the findings could damage the public's confidence in airlines and affect profits.The AP has sought to obtain the survey data, gathered from about 24,000 commercial and general aviation pilots over nearly four years, for 14 months.NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said in a statement that "NASA should focus on how we can provide information to the public, not on how we can withhold it."That should be simple. He should just release the survey findings in their entirety and end the secrecy that has existed up to now.After all, the taxpayers paid for it.