Editorial:

City budgets are not what they once were, even in comparatively well-off Newport Beach, which is facing a projected $8-million budget gap largely caused by a downturn in two key sources of income: sales and property taxes.

We learned about these worse-than-expected budget numbers in the same week that Portfolio, an online business magazine, called Newport Beach the wealthiest city in the nation by measures that include property values and income.

Despite the impressive wealth of many residents, the economic climate makes a recent gesture by city officials — a pledge to return constituent phone calls and e-mails within 24 hours — all the more nice.

Mayor Keith Curry announced the new communications policy at his Feb. 19 State of the City address, the aptly titled “Speak up, Newport!” event. Curry called the directive an example of City Manager Dave Kiff’s “gold standard of customer service.”

By implementing the new rule for city employees, Newport Beach is eschewing a ready excuse, economic challenges, and offering residents better service.

Just to be clear, many city employees were quickly responding to communications in a day or less anyway.

But we like the message of a stated directive to communicate with constituents as quickly as possible, particularly in an era when many of us have come to expect less from cash-strapped governments.

Newport’s phone and e-mail policy formally took effect Monday, and it’s easy for cynics to ask what’s the big deal?

Shouldn’t city employees be responding to inquiries as quickly as possible? Isn’t that what they are paid to do?

After all, those who work in the private sector return calls as soon they can.

That’s just good business. To that we say, the practice, at least in Newport, is now part of good government, too.