Democratic legislators have criticized Gov. Linda Lingle for proposing pay reductions for state employees in the next two fiscal years, since she will no longer be governor. Indeed, candidates for governor will need to tell taxpayers clearly how they will achieve a balanced budget without reducing government salaries or increasing taxes.

Lingle explained to legislators last week that the proposed 5.5 percent wage reduction would actually be an increase of 2.5 percent in take-home pay if Furlough Fridays are eliminated, as she proposes. The current system of employees taking days off without pay has resulted in about an 8 percent pay cut, she said.

Although the governor is required by law to present a financial plan to legislators, Senate Ways and Means Committee Chairwoman Donna Mercado Kim said, “;It's easy to say that we're anticipating a 5.5 percent cut in salaries when you're not going to be here.”;

Kim is correct, and the public employee unions continue to remind us that the most obvious way to avoid pay cuts is to increase taxes.

Workers in the private sector have difficulty understanding that option. As they have coped with the spiraling down of the economy, it has not occurred to them to demand that their employers increase prices of their goods or services so they can avoid wage reductions.

The difference, of course, is that taxpayers are captive clients of the government, and the services are most vital to those who are most in need, especially during the recession.

Lingle said her budget plan suggested for her successor aims at reducing the size of government and restructuring the Medicaid program to provide basic services for poor people, but not “;at a level that's beyond what working people are getting.”;

“;The next governor would face all the labor negotiations when they come in just the way I did when I first came in,”; Lingle told reporters.

As head of the Senate's money committee, Kim said she is “;looking very heavily at the special fund transfers and some other creative ways of cutting costs.”; However, her committee is considering an increase in the general excise tax, recommended by two other Senate committees. The tax hike is endorsed by the Hawaii State Teachers Association and the Hawaii Government Employees Association on the convoluted theory that higher taxes and consequent government wage increases will fuel the state's economy.

Lingle understands that increased taxes instead would cost thousands of jobs in small businesses and the tourism industry trying to make ends meet. Candidates to be her successor must clearly articulate their plans to balance the state's budget without further crippling the state's economy.