By most accounts, next year’s budgets for the county, cities and towns, and the school system won’t be pretty.

Belt-tightening can be expected all around due to a decline in revenue from taxes, fees and other ways government makes money.

To that end, the Chilton County Board of Education should be commended for practicing fiscal responsibility.

The system says it can handle a proration cut of up to 8 percent, using money in reserve and revenue from the 2010 budget year.

Several other counties’ and cities’ school systems won’t be able to handle five percent cuts without borrowing money.

That doesn’t mean everything will be peachy in Chilton County. This year’s proration ended up being 11 percent.

School officials hope to hear something soon from Gov. Riley and state education leaders about what percentage cut can be expected.

Having the reserve money will help cushion the blow when cuts inevitably come next budget year.