Like a family trying to budget for the coming year, the Allegheny Regional Asset District is being cautious.

Financial markets are in disarray, local unemployment is rising and consumer confidence is falling. Those factors add up to questionable estimates on retail sales, which generate the bulk of revenue for the RAD tax, the 1 percent sales levy assessed in Allegheny County.

The state has announced that, although sales tax receipts held steady through the first eight months, September's collections came in 2.7 percent below estimates. Rather than make promises it couldn't keep, the RAD board proposed a preliminary budget Monday that would funnel $80.3 million to 90 organizations. In preparing the plan, the board found a way to fulfill its primary mission of providing operating funds to a variety of arts, cultural and community groups. And it will give them the same amounts they received this year.

The board did cut spending by $3.7 million, but it did so by eliminating most allotments for capital projects, maintenance and repairs that in the past have included a new boiler at Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens and improvements to the book distribution system run by the Carnegie Library. The RAD board also cut in half the $2 million request from the Sports & Exhibition Authority for operation of the David L. Lawrence Convention Center.

It is too bad that RAD won't be able to fund any new organizations next year, and that any groups relying on it for capital improvements will be forced to find funds elsewhere or cancel their plans.

But with its 2009 budget, the RAD board again has proved to be a smart steward of county sales tax revenue during its 15-year history.

The best evidence is that, next year, RAD will hit a milestone on total allocations: $1 billion. That's billion with a B.