A typical pre-election Budget typically has a few sweeteners thrown in to help secure votes on polling day. But these times are far from typical.With the economy in the doldrums and Government weighed down by debt, there was little wiggle room for Premier Paula Cox to hand anyone a financial boost.Business owners, local and international, will at least breathe a sigh of relief that there was no increase in the 14 percent rate of payroll tax, while the retail, restaurant and hotel sectors will also be relieved to see their payroll tax concessions extended.And the harmonisation of duty rates at 25 percent for personal imports and goods being brought in through the airport will give heart to retailers and their 4,000 employees, if not many members of the public who will see their overseas online shopping become more expensive.One concerning aspect of the Budget is how far Government strayed from its spending plans laid out in the last Budget. The plan was for current account expenditure of $901 million for the current fiscal year, which now looks like it will end up at $971 million. That’s an overspend of almost eight percent.Or put another way, the current account overspend alone was equivalent to roughly $1,000 for every resident of this Island.Considering the debt burden now being borne by the public purse, financial controls should be stricter than ever to ensure that every department’s budgets are adhered to. As last year’s Budget projected a deficit, it was clear that every cent above budgeted spending amounts had to be borrowed, adding to the cumulative debt and also to the burden of interest payments for years to come.Expenditure on salaries and wages was almost $410 million, compared to the $396 million budgeted, an overspend of 3.5 percent. And next year, salaries are projected to rise again.The rising spending will be particularly galling to those running private companies, who themselves have had to make painful decisions over the past few years just to keep operating. They also know that the deeper Government goes into debt, the less ability it has to stimulate the economy and help them.The taking of $50 million from the Sinking Fund to make interest payments on debt through the next financial year also does not bode well. The Sinking Fund, founded in 1993, was intended, according to a footnote in yesterday’s Budget statement, ”to set aside a sum equivalent to 2.5 percent of the public debt outstanding at the end of the preceding year, in order to repay the principal sum borrowed after 20 years”.Government at least intends to make the annual payment, which next year totals $30.7 million, to the Fund, but the removal of the $50 million is clearly counter-productive to the aim of paying off long-term debt. Raiding the Sinking Fund has the effect of making the projected Budget deficit look $50 million less alarming than it would do otherwise, sincethat money does not paid out of the Consolidated Fund.However, it does not hide the fact that interest payments alone next year are expected to total $85 million, up from $70 million in the current fiscal year.The Premier insists the debt is “manageable” and that she has a multi-year plan to get it under control. This relies not only on boosting revenue, but also the execution of a plan to “restrain primary current spending programme spending to 2012-13 levels over the next few years”.In other words, sticking to the spending plan will be key.