Gov. Mark Sanford used his first budget veto message earlier this month to give the General Assembly some valuable advice about improving the appropriations process.

First, he vetoed several of the legislature's raids on special trust funds. The money in these funds was raised by taxes, fees or even donations. It was paid to accomplish a specific purpose, such as paying for the future cleanup of a waste site.

The state should not be raiding these funds to add more money to the general fund during a tight budget year. All leaders in Columbia admit that, but they say their hand was forced because of the severity of the state's fiscal crisis.

The governor also admonished lawmakers for trying to limit his veto power.

The governor can veto only single-line items of the budget, and at times the legislature combined single appropriations with sections that encompassed multiple unrelated expenditures.

Such manipulation of the budget process is an attempt by lawmakers to avoid the constitutional balance of power and preserve more of that power for themselves than they should legitimately have.

Sanford is correct in trying to preserve his own authority over the budget and that constitutional balance of power.

As it approaches another tough budget next year, the General Assembly should honor the commitments the state made as it established the trust funds, and it should honor the constitutional limits on its power.