Less than three months ago, state officials were pitching the idea of a $500 bonus for full-time state employees, at a cost of $34.7 million to be taken from a $168 million surplus in the fiscal ’09 budget.

The plan was later shelved after general tax revenue for the first two months of the new fiscal year was $17 million below projections.

Pulling the plug on the bonuses was the right thing to do. Just look at the current forecast. Officials now expect the revenue shortfall to widen to around $100 million by the end of the current budget year next June 30.

It’s certainly cause for concern, but not necessarily alarm, although Senate Finance Chairman Walt Helmick says he thinks the $100 million figure may be too low and that lawmakers will have to look at ways to reduce state spending, possibly through furloughs and layoffs, something West Virginia, unlike other states, has managed to avoid as the national recession continues to take its toll.

Gov. Joe Manchin has repeated his earlier plea to all state agencies to find savings.

“We are vigorously looking for additional efficiencies in state government,” spokesman Matt Turner said Tuesday. “He (Manchin) believes there is much more that can be done to improve efficiency and save money.”

It appears the state can indeed weather this latest storm. After all, by not providing the bonuses earlier this year, it still has the $168 million in surplus revenues as well as the bulk of its estimated share of $1.8 billion in federal stimulus funding.

And West Virginia still looks to be in better shape than many other states. New Mexico’s governor, for instance, said Tuesday that higher taxes were “inevitable.” Eleven states have cut their budgets across the board and four have been forced to use emergency reserves to cover spending needs, while others have had to lay off or furlough thousands of employees.

But as we’ve seen in the last two and a half months, things can change in a hurry.

And that reminder must stay at the forefront as the 2010 legislative session approaches.

Next year is an election year for all members of the House of Delegates and half the state Senate, and lawmakers are bound to be besieged by special interest groups in search of pay raises and the like.

We’ve said it before: We’re not fundamentally opposed to better pay for teachers and other public employees ... if the money is there.

Tough times demand tough decisions. And until there is definite proof the state is on the road to better times, state government simply cannot afford to spend unwisely.

Right now, there is no such proof. Eventually, there will be. And making the right decisions now and in the months ahead could very well hasten it.

That’s the approach state government must take.