Revenues are down and budgets across the board are tightening — except for a Park County parking lot.

In April, the Park County Commission voted 3-2 to go $34,500 over budget to repave, reshape and expand the parking lots for the Park County Courthouse for an estimated cost of about $134,500.

Think about that $34,500 difference and all the ways those funds could have been used.

The project will do three things:

• Replace the existing pavement, which has become uneven and potholed.

• Reshape the bulbous “islands” that divide the existing lot, making it easier to plow.

• Pave a dirt/gravel portion of the lot to add 20 large parking spaces

Had commissioners kept the gravel portion of the parking lot graveled, it would have cost $104,300 — pretty close to the previously budgeted amount.

Commissioners had five options for parking lot improvements, which were needed for issues such as potholes. The bare minimum reconstruction was estimated to cost $82,375.

All vehicles can park on gravel, from a small scooter on up to a fully loaded Hummer.

In the face of large revenue drops due to the downturn in oil and gas activity and value, now is not the time to get the “Cadillac” version of anything. Now is the time to be as fiscally responsible as possible, and that means staying within the budget, or even finding ways to come in under budget.

Of course potholes need to be filled, and maintenance of infrastructure is necessary to avoid more expensive projects in the future.

Every dollar saved on one project is a dollar to put toward another project.

We agree with Commissioner Joe Tilden when he said, “We’re trying to watch our pennies and pinch pennies whenever we can and ... I don’t want to do a bad job, but I don’t think we need to go overboard.”

We encourage everyone to keep a close eye on city, county, state and national budgeting as the upcoming fiscal year approaches. City councils and county commissions across the country are gearing up to create their budgets, and that is your money they are spending. It’s our job as citizens to make sure it is all spent wisely.

It can be difficult to determine what the future of Wyoming’s finances will be — as best exemplified in the revised update from the state’s Consensus Revenue Estimating Group (CREG).

Earlier this year, the Wyoming Legislature approved a budget that was significantly smaller than the previous fiscal year’s budget, based on the previous CREG report.

Then at the end of April, the latest CREG report indicated that state agencies need to cut spending by an additional 8 percent.

If budgets on the state level are dropping more than previously projected, then local decision-makers would be wise to follow suit and prepare for revenue to be even lower than anticipated at the time of their budgeting meetings.

“If coal production declines further, if natural gas prices slide further after the completion of the winter withdrawal season, or if oil prices or production decline again in the next three months, the shortfall could be worse,” states the latest CREG report.

The report predicts revenues could fall as much as to $130 million below projections for the current fiscal year that runs through June. A maximum $130 million shortfall is about 9 percent of the total $1.44 billion total general fund/budget reserve account budget for the current fiscal year.

State lawmakers will meet in Cheyenne in early 2017 for a general session to draft a supplemental budget bill to amend the $3 billion two-year budget they adopted in the session earlier this year.

It’s happening at the state level, so it could happen at the local level, too.

Gov. Matt Mead requested state agencies reduce general fund spending by 8 percent when they prepare for the 2017 supplemental budgets. We ask that our County Commission and City Council do the same — watch what the state is doing, prepare for the worst and brace for impact.

There’s no room for “Cadillacs” on the rough road ahead of us.