As Pennsylvania faces a midyear budget shortfall that could reach $2 billion, we will soon see what lawmakers mean by "everything's on the table."

Let's hope it includes the latest automatic cost-of-living adjustment for state elected officials and the Legislature's own operating surplus.

On Dec. 1, Pennsylvania's 253 legislators, 1,000 judges and top executive branch members got their annual cost-of-living adjustment. It's a pay raise pegged to the inflation rate of the Philadelphia area, and this time it's worth an extra 2.8 percent.

When the deteriorating economy is crimping the tax revenue flowing to the state's $28.3 billion budget, a Legislature that forgoes this year's COLA would be not only generating savings but also sending a message of allegiance to Pennsylvanians who have to endure spending cuts in education, welfare, development and other areas.

The General Assembly shouldn't stop there, though. Unlike other parts of state government, the legislative branch is able to keep the unspent money it receives for operations each year, to the point that it now has more than $240 million socked away. That's money that should be returned to the state treasury or, better yet, to state taxpayers. Legislative leaders argue that they need the account to maintain the branch's independence in a potential showdown with the governor. Nonsense.

If the heart of reform truly beats in this Legislature, it will release most, if not all, of the surplus for public use because of the shortfall.

Finally, an unnecessary sideshow to the search for budget savings has been staged by activist groups that are trying to eliminate COLAs for state officials not just this year but forever. That would be a step too far and would return Pennsylvania to the bad old days, prior to 1995, when state officials would hold key bills hostage to the desire for a pay raise every several years.

Because lawmakers then did not receive incremental salary boosts, every time they floated the idea of a raise it required a double-digit increase just to keep pace with inflation. The large jumps were unpopular with the public, not surprisingly, and led to stealth tactics in the House and Senate to get the raises passed.

By putting an annual COLA in the 1995 law, Pennsylvania tried to lay the periodic pay crises to rest. It worked until 2005, when the General Assembly gave itself an unwarranted raise and then, under public pressure, repealed it. The strongest argument against that raise -- and the Post-Gazette made it repeatedly -- was that state officials already got annual pay increases and therefore needed no additional pay hike.

While we'd prefer to see the COLA pegged to a state cost-of-living average rather than one based in Philadelphia, it would be a mistake for Pennsylvania to tamper with this fundamental component of elected officials' compensation. Citizen activists should help find savings in the state budget, but without creating problems for the future.