Gen. Creighton Abrams, a distinguished World War II tank commander and the head of U.S. military forces during the Vietnam War, has two lasting namesakes.

The first is a tank: the M1 Abrams, named in his honor.

The second is his quote about taking on a huge task. We’re sure you’ve heard it: “When eating an elephant, take one bite at a time.”

The Butler County Commissioners, all first-termers, might have identified with Abrams’ quote when they took office Jan. 4. Leslie Osche, Kim Geyer and Kevin Boozel confronted a $150.7 million budget with a 27.6-mill property tax rate, including a 3-mill tax increase; an unpaid tax anticipation note for 2015 and another pending for 2016; depleted cash reserves and state funding made unreliable by a budget standoff that had endured seven months.

Happily the commissioners seem to have acquired a taste for elephant.

They considered reopening the budget. They decided not to do that — not in any official capacity, anyway. On Jan. 20, they announced they would not seek to modify the budget because the revenue projections were too tight to make major changes. Instead, they directed department heads and row officers to cut a combined $5 million in spending, about 3.3 percent of the budget total.

Ten months into the year, and we’re seeing the positive results of their efforts.

The tax anticipation notes have been paid for 2105 and 2106. There’s sufficient cash flow to pay the bills and payroll through the end of 2016. No tax increase is anticipated for 2017.

These are all good developments, considering the circumstances the board found in January. There was no single, magic-bullet remedy. The 3-mill property tax increase, imposed by the outgoing board before they left office, played a huge factor in heading off what had appeared to be a looming fiscal crisis. The commissioners considered repealing part or all of that increase but decided not to. That decision was painful but prudent.

Equally painful was the transfer of $2.5 million of natural gas drilling impact fee money into the general fund to prevent a deficit at the end of 2015 — a move not initiated by the current board but, like the tax increase, was allowed to stand.

The Butler Eagle criticized both decisions six months ago. We did so in the context that the new board was trying to get a better handle on where the tax dollars were being spent. We suggested then that the commissioners were moving too slowly, too cautiously and with too much focus on the budget operations without any focus on the vision for Butler County that the commissioners had advanced in their election campaigns.

Since we were first to criticize, let’s be first to praise the commissioners for staying the course through a difficult period. Their strategy underscores the value of restraint — in resisting the impulse to try quick easy remedies, often throwing good money after bad.

With the county’s return to a more solid fiscal footing, let the criticism become encouragement, taking on more positive overtones: make sure that future gas impact fees are used as intended, not to balance the general fund; continue a tight budget policy justifying the value of expenditures in technology and staffing; and then return to the campaign visions, a better quality of life and more responsive government.

There’s always plenty of elephant to go around.