GOV. MARK SANFORD built his budget around his own political philosophy and some basic budgeting principles:

Government should concentrate on what only government can do, and do that as efficiently as possible. Agencies should focus on their core missions and leave extraneous tasks to other agencies or the private sector. Programs should end once they accomplish their missions. Optional services with limited constituencies should be provided on a fee-for-service basis. All state resources — not just spending — should be reviewed regularly.

These are not extraordinary ideas; many politicians espouse them. What is extraordinary is that Mr. Sanford went beyond spouting principles and did the hard work necessary to apply them to the real world. No small task for anyone, this was even more notable for our outsider governor, who came to office a year ago with less knowledge of state government than anyone in more than a generation.

What he lacked in experience he made up for in the quality of questions he asked — first inside the governor’s office, as he pored over budget bills and highlighted appropriations whose purpose was not apparent, then through an unprecedented series of public hearings that forced agency directors to explain programs and practices whose original purpose was long forgotten, and finally with the appointment of a group of business leaders to do its own review of government practices.

With that crash course in S.C. government, Mr. Sanford was able to save $250 million not by shuttering agencies or butchering basic programs but by reaching deep into budgets and pulling out specific programs, practices and holdings that he considered off-track, unnecessary or redundant. The reach of those proposals is illustrated by a few examples of how he applied his principles:

• Focus on efficiency. Mr. Sanford proposes to save $750,000 by consolidating 13 Highway Patrol dispatch offices, $1.8 million by bringing the Department of Motor Vehicles’ IT operations in-house, $900,000 by reducing the hours at underused DMV offices and $380,000 by combining pharmacy and dental services for the Corrections and Juvenile Justice departments.

• Concentrate on core missions. Francis Marion University receives $56,000 to increase voter registration; a nice idea, but not essential to the job of higher education. Mr. Sanford sees the worst mission drift at the Clemson PSA, an agriculture improvement program that tackles economic development activities more appropriate to the Commerce Department, environmental efforts more suited to the Department of Natural Resources and everything from combating terrorism and skinning whitetail deer to conflict resolution and hanging wallcoverings; he proposes to slash the budget by a third.

• Stop when you’re finished. Lander University receives $287,000 a year to get its business school accredited — even though the process is complete; Mr. Sanford would eliminate that funding. He also would eliminate $1.1 million set aside to help The Citadel retrofit dormitories and restrooms and make other changes to accommodate female students, who have been attending the school since 1996; and do away with the $225,000 DARE anti-drug program, which state officials operate even though they are unable to determine that it works.

• Charge users for optional services. The governor proposes to charge $16 for hunting safety courses, eliminating the $280,000 state subsidy; discontinue the $410,000 subsidy to South Carolina Wildlife magazine; eliminate the $236,000 program that gives seedlings to individuals who want to plant trees; and eliminate state funding for inspections of swimming pools under construction, shifting the $213,000 cost to pool owners.

• Look beyond cash. Mr. Sanford proposes to sell off 10 buildings and properties, to raise $32 million. While most people knew about the big-ticket item on this list — the Mental Health Department’s underutilized Bull Street property in Columbia —_ the others are more obscure. He picks up $12.5 million by selling the Port Royal terminal — as local officials long wanted — which received only 18 ships last year. In a more roundabout application of this principle, he convinced Santee Cooper officials to find $13 million in unused assets to sell off, after suggesting he might want to sell off Santee Cooper. (He hasn’t followed through on that idea, but says he’s not done yet.)

Beyond homework, producing a budget such as this demands political courage. Every cut is going to generate enemies for the governor. Mr. Sanford is well aware of this. As he acknowledged to editorial writers last week, this budget may well be “a document of burn all your political bridges.”

But it’s probably the type of document only a governor can produce, and as such it’s his responsibility to do so. Now that Mr. Sanford has provided specific proposals and political cover, it’s up to our Legislature to give the proposals due consideration, and then act.

Ms. Scoppe can be reached at cscoppe@thestate.com or at (803) 771-8571.