Add Granite City to the list of school districts that understand the new fiscal realities. The district is projecting a $7.5 million deficit this year, and yet it's not planning to ask property taxpayers to dig deeper -- something that might have happened before the Great Recession. Superintendent Harry Briggs said correctly that people are taxed enough already.

Instead, the district is acting like a private business when its revenues fall short: Looking for ways to restructure programs, consolidate operations and otherwise cut costs. Among the cost-cutting proposals: Closing Niedringhaus Elementary School.

Briggs and the School Board understand that a tax increase in these tough times has to be a last resort, not a first. That's a lesson all taxing bodies need to learn.