Gov. Ed Rendell believes Pennsylvania officials finally are beginning to accept the fact that the state will have to increase taxes as well as cut spending to resolve the $3.3 billion deficit that has been a roadblock to adopting a 2009-10 budget.

Today, the Keystone State begins its third month without a completed spending package in place. The state constitution mandates that a new budget be in place by July 1, but that date came and went without a hint that any meaningful agreements or compromises had been reached.

Later in July, Rendell signed what has been referred to as a skeleton budget, fashioned by way of his line-item veto power. That "budget" enables state workers to be paid and funds public safety and state parks.

But the fact remains that the state needs a full budget package in place to fund all aspects of its responsibility. The lack of one is imposing financial constraints on counties and is on the verge of severely impacting school districts, many of which either are about to opt for, or begin tapping, tax-anticipation loans.

Those loans will require interest payments that the state is under no obligation to pay.

That Rendell is harboring some optimism — real or imagined — was evident in an Associated Press report quoting the governor as saying, "I think we're now beginning to realize we need to do the same."

He was referring to other states with huge budget deficits at the end of the 2008-09 budget year that resolved their deficits with a combination of tax increases and spending reductions.

"We need to do the same, and the reluctance to do the same has caused us problems," he said.

At that point, Rendell voiced the observation that a new realization might be starting to evolve in the state capital.

Unfortunately, there isn't any evidence that Rendell is correct in that opinion. But given the limits of the skeleton budget, it's becoming increasingly apparent on a number of fronts, including school districts, that the need for a budget accord is taking on much-increased urgency.

Forcing school districts to finance their operations indefinitely with millions-of-dollars tax-anticipation borrowing should be viewed as unconscionable by lawmakers and Rendell, but they're ignoring that.

As of this past weekend, Connecticut was the only other state without an approved budget in place. But some states with approved spending packages financing their operations were contemplating revisiting their new budgets to make adjustments reflecting lower revenue realities. Those states include California, Illinois, Maryland, Virginia and Arizona.

Meanwhile, in financially hard-pressed Michigan, whose fiscal year begins Oct. 1, officials were engaged in a struggle to fashion a budget to avoid a government shutdown a month from now.

Like Pennsylvania, Michigan's deficit is $3 billion.

Unfortunately, Pennsylvania's budget debacle is not only about money; it's also about 2010 gubernatorial politics.

Republicans next year will be blaming Democrats for this year's budget problem and the hardships it imposed on many. Democrats, who are hopeful for a Democratic successor to Rendell, will be painting Republicans as obstructionists to responsible financial stewardship.

In fact, both parties are to blame for the stalemate that exists. Until the fiscal year ended, neither side displayed any seriousness about getting a new budget in place.

Both sides displayed the attitude that the constitutionally mandated budget-passage date didn't really mean much — and that's wrong.

State lawmakers and the governor are paid to do better. On the budget front, it's time for them to really earn their pay — and without any false optimism voiced in the hope of gaining political points.