It is time for voters to pay attention. The Pennsylvania General Assembly and Gov. Ed Rendell are about to hash out a 2009-10 state budget. This budget is not just about funding state operations in the abstract. It could affect residents' property taxes.

Times are tough around the state, and state government is not immune from the economic realities all of us are facing. When the budget ultimately is adopted, it must be balanced.

But beginning last fall, the state went into the red. State revenues fell short beginning last October, and the hole has been growing ever since.

Most recently, it was estimated that the shortfall would be $3.2 billion by the end of this month.

Everyone agrees there is a big gap to fill, but budget negotiations must now focus on how to fill the hole. County commissioners across the state are monitoring the state budget process very closely, and we are very concerned that property tax payers are going to be asked to backfill funding for what clearly are state responsibilities.

Voters need to be vigilant against a state budget balanced by passing the buck to them.

The commonwealth budget has far-reaching impacts for county government budgets. A large portion of funding for county human services comes from state appropriations. Counties also count on state funding for the common pleas judiciary, environmental programs, workforce development, transportation infrastructure and tourism promotion, to name a few. A number of the programs that counties rely on the state to provide the greatest share of funding are mandates or entitlement services. These services are required by law, and counties feel a responsibility to provide them for the betterment of the community.

For example, children and youth services are an entitlement. Regardless of available funding, counties must investigate potential cases of abuse or neglect, and take action to protect children who are in danger. This is a service required by the state and delivered by the counties.

In many areas of the county budget, human needs drive the demand for services. In a time of economic stress, the demand for services increases.

If state leaders fail to do their part to adequately fund core government services, additional costs will be passed down to the local level.

Again, regardless of availability of funding, these services must be provided. They are core government services.

So what happens if the commonwealth budget slashes funding in these areas?

Commissioners will look to see whether existing revenue can be shifted around to cover the state's responsibilities. In doing so, they might cut or eliminate important local programs that they are not required by law to fund.

But many counties already went through that exercise in the last fiscal year. There is no fat left to cut, and in some cases, there are no budgetary reserves into which to tap.

The odds that counties will have to turn to property tax payers to help balance obligations that belong to the state are increasing with each reduction in funding.

Residents of counties have local priorities, programs and services that are not required by law, but are responses to local needs. Those programs often are the first to be cut or eliminated when the state reduces its share of funding for core government services. This results in loss of local autonomy as local funding for these discretionary programs is shifted to backfill inadequately funded state and federal mandates.

In tough times, everyone has to tighten their belts and find ways to make ends meet. Counties are doing their part, but they do not have budgetary fat to lose.

Many county services are mandates or are part of the social safety net, and simply cannot be cut. Counties already have been squeezed by increased federal and state responsibility passed to the local level, as state and federal funding has failed to keep up with the growth in costs related to core government services.

As elected officials, county commissioners know they are required to make difficult choices. As the elected officials at the bottom of the chain, they know they cannot pass those choices off to some other level of government.

The objective for state leaders as they approach budget deliberations should be about more than just achieving a certain reduction in spending. It also must be about prioritizing core government services.

A commonwealth budget that reduces spending but shifts costs to the local level will not reduce taxpayers' burdens overall.

James Kennedy, a Butler County commissioner, is president of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania. CCAP, a statewide, nonprofit, nonpartisan association representing all of Pennsylvania's 67 counties, is an affiliate of the National Association of Counties.