Most people have had personal experience with sloppy money management. They sock money away for a special purpose and then find an excuse to funnel off some of it more immediately. In the end, they're free to spend as they wish.

But with public money, creative spending is harder to defend. If a fund is replenished by a tax and meant for a specific need, it should not be diverted for miscellaneous purposes without permission.

Advertiser staff writer Sean Hao today outlines this example of wayward government taxation: a cell-phone fund created to pay for 911 emergency location technology. It's a good purpose — a system that helps emergency service dispatchers pinpoint the location of those who dial 911 from cell phones.

It's a good purpose that has been largely accomplished. The system has been built, and the supervisory Wireless Enhanced 911 Board is now only considering whether unused revenue from the tax should be spent on boosting cell coverage in areas of spotty reception.

Meanwhile, the Legislature tapped $16 million from the fund balance to help patch the state budget. Lawmakers left $9 million in the till and the 66-cent tax, assessed monthly on local cell phone bills, in place.

While these are fiscally desperate times, it's really irresponsible governance to expand the purpose of a special fund without new authorization. It's unfair to expect cell phone subscribers to be subsidizing spending that either should be cut or underwritten by the general tax base.

State Sen. Sam Slom believes the fund balance should be used to finish up any needed Wireless Enhanced 911 refinements, and then the fund should be zeroed out and the tax cancelled. He's right.

If there's a new, broader purpose that needs a special assessment and the attention of a supervisory board, the Legislature should give it a public hearing — rather than simply finding new reasons to siphon from this existing pot of cash.