Residents scream a lot about high taxes, but they scream louder when they believe they're going to lose some of the services they've come to expect, even demand, from Virginia Beach.

So when City Council members began warning a few months ago about the straits of this year's budget - the worst since the early 1990s - and identified the vulnerable services and programs, they got an earful.

They heard from city employees who wanted larger raises than the 1.5 percent they were being promised. They heard from boat owners angry over the possibility of having to pay taxes on their weekend toys. They heard from people who relied on the city's consumer affairs department, as well as fire safety educators, part-time fire inspectors and lifeguards whose budgets were being cut. And they heard from the Patriotic Festival, which was slated to lose its $200,000 grant.

So the mayor and council, five of whom are up for re-election in November, are restoring those programs and others - $5.42 million worth. City employees will get a 2.5 percent raise. Public safety employees, who weren't slated for any raise, will get 1 percent. Virginia Beach will give the Patriotic Festival $100,000. And it will continue to charge $150 in personal property taxes for a $10,000 car used to get to work, but not a dime in personal property taxes for a $200,000 boat used for weekend fishing.

Under the $1.76 billion budget set to be approved Tuesday, the 89-cent tax rate will remain unchanged. There'll be less money to dredge the western branch of the Lynnhaven River and for two stormwater projects. The contingency fund will be reduced by a half million, but the city is getting more money from the state than it initially expected. And it will save several hundred thousand by refinancing some of its debt.

This is good news, right? Just a few months ago, city leaders were predicting revenues would be $27.6 million short of expenses. The council was warning that the city might not be able to afford this service or that.

Here's what's bothersome about all this. While the city pacified employees and boat owners and festival aficionados, it is still putting off road improvements and renovations of schools - work that will only get more expensive the longer it waits.

But it's an election year. So rather than do without, rather than impose a fair tax on boaters to maintain the waterways they enjoy, rather than call on the private sector to sponsor festivals, elected officials have magically found money for those things.

Such financial shuffling makes political sense, but not necessarily common sense. It implies that residents and employees who howl loudest will be satisfied, and rewards the council for sleights of hand by boosting re-election prospects. It means that next year, if the city is feeling truly pinched and council members start poor-mouthing again, it'll be hard to take them seriously.