The across-the-board 4 percent budget cuts demanded last week by Gov. Peter Shumlin represent an effort to keep state spending under control as the state rebuilds after the floods of Irene.

The budget cuts also amount to Shumlin’s answer to Republican demands for a spending freeze: He has done the Republicans one better, actually seeking to cut General Fund spending.

Shumlin’s cuts come as some Democratic legislators have suggested the state will be forced to raise taxes to pay for unanticipated expenses caused by the floods. A special, temporary gas tax to pay for road and bridge repairs not covered by other funds would seem to be a reasonable option, but it appears Shumlin is shying away from a tax increase until he has no other choice.

Republicans have tested the state’s remarkable spirit of unity after the floods by issuing language challenging Shumlin on his flood response. GOP Chairwoman Pat McDonald prompted criticism from Democrats for a message she sent out noting the “fiscally imprudent trajectory” onto which Shumlin had directed the state even before Irene and demanding quick action. She called for a special legislative session and other measures to keep the state’s fiscal house in order.

Democrats accused McDonald of marring the spirit of comity that has prevailed since the floods. Indeed, Republicans will be treading a fine line, taking on Shumlin without seeming to introduce a spirit of partisan carping at a time when Vermonters have rallied together with great community spirit to rebuild. That Shumlin has adopted a tough line on the budget ought to still the criticism that the Republicans are pushing too hard on the budget. Shumlin has shown that he more or less agrees with the Republicans.

One area where the Republicans are not likely to make headway is point five of McDonald’s recommended course of post-Irene action. McDonald is asking Shumlin to take immediate action to push property tax reforms because of the damage to property and the pressure on property taxes caused by the floods. In fact, our present system of education funding ought to serve as a buffer, protecting flood-ravaged communities from property tax pressures they otherwise would have felt.

Towns rich in property — Killington, Manchester, Dorset, Stowe, Vernon, Essex — used to keep all the property tax revenue generated within their towns, giving them plentiful resources for education. That was the old days. With the passage of Act 60, those property resources became statewide resources, at least for the purposes of education. Thus, the considerable property taxes paid by Vermont Yankee, for example, are shared statewide rather than kept by Vernon. Gains in the grand list in a particular town have become gains for the statewide grand list.

Conversely, the sudden destruction of properties because of the flood will be a hit to the grand lists in numerous towns — from Wilmington north. As property values are reduced, the effect will be to lower statewide property values as they figure into our education finance system. Thus, the considerable loss of property tax revenue that Wilmington would have suffered under the old system will be absorbed statewide under the new system.

Town road budgets do not enjoy the benefits of a statewide property tax system. Municipal budgets are still funded from local property taxes without the equalizing mechanism of a state fund. Thus, towns left with bills to pay after state and federal money has been expended are likely to face serious upward pressure on their road budgets. Property tax bills will reflect those upward pressures, but those difficulties will be ameliorated by the softening of the blow caused by the state Education Fund.

McDonald’s suggestion that Shumlin seize this opportunity to reform the state property tax system appears to follow the Rahm Emmanuel dictum about not letting a crisis go to waste. She is trying to take advantage of the crisis to push a position that has gone nowhere in the past and is likely to go nowhere now.

Certainly, school boards, as they have in recent years, will be acutely aware of the financial difficulties faced by their towns in the wake of Irene. They don’t need interference from Montpelier in setting their budgets. Former Gov. James Douglas largely failed in his efforts to insert state government into local school budgeting decisions. There is little reason to believe Shumlin will think it’s a good idea now — especially since the present system is actually smoothing the sharp edge of the disaster by allowing property tax payers statewide to share in the losses.