Promises ought to be kept.

So the Gloucester City Council gets points for recognizing that with its vote Wednesday night to maintain a 25 percent subsidy (up to a maximum of $6,000) of the betterment charged to property owners required to tie into new, public sewer lines.

The elimination of that subsidy - recommended by former Mayor John Bell and the council's Ordinance and Administration Committee - would break a promise the city made more than 20 years ago and has kept since then.

Yes, times are tight for Gloucester. But to call the subsidies unaffordable, as many have, is disingenuous at best. They are no more unaffordable than a police, fire or school department. City officials could argue, justifiably, that they don't have the money for those services, either. It is just a matter of making choices - and keeping commitments.

Even calling them subsidies is misleading, since the money comes from taxpayers, either way. The only question is whether the money is all extracted from the individual property owners who must tie into the system, or a portion of it comes from all the taxpayers in the city. Every public service is "subsidized" by the city, which collects the money to pay for it from local or state taxpayers.

In this case, the city has set a well-established, sensible precedent. The entire community, not just individual property owners, benefits from reduced pollution.

Those along future sewer extensions, who will have no choice but to tie into them, would rightly feel cheated if they receive no subsidy, since hundreds of others previously got it. In the case of proposed extensions to the Essex Avenue sewer line, needed to end septic pollution of Walker Creek, Little River and Jones River, estimates are that the betterment costs will average $40,000 per user. Even with a subsidy, that is a crushing financial hit.

If the city cannot afford those extensions for a few years, that is understandable. But it should not proceed with them on the backs of citizens who can't afford the betterments.

Beyond that, the city already demands fees for multiple services that used to be covered through property taxes, including water and sewer, trash disposal, beach parking, school busing and school sports.

Gloucester made a promise that everybody would share the cost of sewer betterments. That is no different than its promise to provide public safety, public works and education. It is one of the things being a community is about.

Thanks to the councilors who took a stand to keep that promise.