One thing was clear at Thursday evening's Jackson Township supervisors meeting: The supervisors failed to provide enough input in the preparation of a proposed 2010 budget.

After Rich Crown, township manager, presented the proposed spending package, which is approximately $300,000 lower than the current budget, disagreement erupted over specific basic provisions, such as how the current millage rate was distributed.

Elected officials should be involved in deciding the details of yearly spending, but in Jackson's case, Thursday's discussion suggested the supervisors remained too far out of the loop as the specifics were being drawn up.

As a result of the disagreements voiced, no tentative-approval action was taken to allow the proposed budget to be opened for 20 days of public inspection. The supervisors indicated that a budget session would be held later this month.

Municipalities have until Dec. 31 to pass a new operating budget; thus the supervisors have time to resolve their budget differences.

But they wouldn't have to hold the upcoming session if they had been deeply involved in the budget exercise from the start. And, that's what they were elected to do.

Pennsylvania Auditor General Jack Wagner merits praise for his recommendation that "swaptions" be made illegal for school districts, municipalities and authorities."Swaps," as they commonly are referred to, are complex financial deals that put taxpayers' money at risk — although they have the chance to make significant money under the right economic conditions.In recent years, however, they have cost school districts across the state — including in Butler County — many millions of dollars.In 2008, the Butler School District paid $5.7 million to get out of a swaption that the district feared would cost it even more money if the deal were allowed to remain in effect. Earlier this year, the Mars School District paid $3 million to get out of one of its swaps, although it reportedly still has other swaps active.A report by Wagner's office shows the South Butler School District as also having had a swaption.In asking the General Assembly to ban swaptions for those entities that he listed and calling for active swaps to be terminated, Wagner said, "Quite simply, the use of swaps amounts to gambling with public money. The fundamental guiding principle in handling public funds is that they should never be exposed to the risk of financial loss."Swaptions became legal in 2003, and between October of that year and June 2009, 107 of the state's 500 school districts had entered into swaption agreements.The idea, as presented by financial advisers, was to reap significant amounts of money. But some districts suffered significant losses instead.State lawmakers should act quickly on the Wagner recommendation.

The odds against the proposal happening are significant, but Gov. Ed Rendell's suggestion that legislative reapportionment be placed in the hands of a panel of appointed citizens is a good idea.A change away from legislators drawing legislative district lines following a national census would require a constitutional amendment — and it is legislators who determine what proposed constitutional changes are placed on the ballot.State residents would be right in being skeptical about lawmakers' willingness to give up that power. Regardless, the process of approving a constitutional change requires several years in this state, so it would be virtually impossible that such a change could be implemented for the 2010 federal census remapping.Nevertheless, it should be pursued in connection with the 2020 census.Rendell should have pressed his redistricting idea early on in his administration. Had he done so, there would have been a chance to build public support for the idea in time for redistricting following the 2010 census.It's a fact that many — perhaps most — legislative districts in this state are drawn with politics in mind. The hope would be that an appointed citizen panel would be less partisan in the drawing of legislative lines.Rendell's governorship concludes at the end of next year, but hopefully his successor will pick up the proposal and run with it.Reapportionment by a panel of appointed citizens would be a good change for Pennsylvania that could eliminate gerrymandering, which is the deliberate modifying of legislative boundaries for electoral purposes, often producing a district of unusual shape.