One of the first big horses out of the budget starting gate is North Idaho College.

On Wednesday, NIC President Priscilla Bell and the Board of Trustees took their first public stab at setting a budget for the next fiscal year.

Like a microcosmic Congress, the college's leaders must determine how they're going to reach the bottom line - where to cut expense, where to increase revenue, or both.

They'll be hearing some cheering from the taxpaying citizenry, fresh on the heels of cuts a few blocks from campus. Kootenai County's Board of Commissioners set status quo on its ear this week by deciding to cut 10 jobs and saving taxpayers roughly half a million dollars annually. Faced with diminishing revenue, the county's department heads and commissioners cut jobs in areas where work had decreased, particularly the department responsible for planning and building.

We applaud county officials for taking a courageous step in responsible budgeting and urge other tax entities to follow suit. At NIC, the playing field has some similarities, but also some glaring differences.

For one, NIC enrollment has skyrocketed in recent years while the college has kept staffing and payroll levels flat. Since 2007, they're serving roughly 40 percent more customers without having increased expenses - in fact, state funding has fallen - which in itself represents dramatic streamlining. Ask any business person and they'll tell you: That model is not sustainable. Without sufficient funding, at some point quality evaporates and the organization implodes.

Also unlike the county, cities and other property taxing entities, NIC has a direct user revenue stream that it can tap and adjust - tuition. While we agree that raising the ceiling on educational achievement benefits everyone in Kootenai County, it helps the students by far the most.

We encourage NIC to keep digging and cutting any expense not directly tied to its mission. But to the degree that NIC can also balance its budget by increasing tuition rather than property taxes, sound management and goodwill toward taxpayers will be on full display.

TUITION TALK:

NIC, 4 percent increase

CSI, 4.8 percent increase

CWI, 5.4 percent increase