When business owners and managers have too much work and not enough money, they seldom jump into new areas, especially if other firms are already handling them well.

So why do local governments who aren’t handling their own affairs very well think they should try tasks other governments already do?

They shouldn’t. But Pima County and the City of Tucson apparently want to do it anyway.

We already know state sales tax revenues are coming in less than expected.

That means city sales tax collections and Tucson’s share of the state tax are down, too.

And we know the real estate market has taken a major hit and foreclosures are up. That may mean lower property tax collections for counties and cities.

Nevertheless, the five members of the Pima County Board of Supervisors and Tucson’s mayor and six City Council members are lusting for new fields to play in, even though money will be tight.

This is not the time for Supervisors Richard Elías, Sharon Bronson, Ramón Valadez, Ann Day and Ray Carroll to jump on County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry’s ego express to establish the county as a major player in regional water issues.

The county’s historic role has been to treat water that goes down our drains and toilets so it (a) can be used to water golf courses, farms, parks and other areas and (b) doesn’t smell bad.

The City of Tucson, Town of Marana and several small cooperative or for-profit water firms already provide fresh water. Instead of competing with them or telling them what to do, the county should clean up its own act, sewage.

I’ve written before that Huckelberry and his bosses know there’s a move toward a regional water authority in eastern Pima County. They realize that since they have no water customers and few credentials in fresh water matters, they won’t control that move.

So they’ve decided to claim a bigger water role than they have and hope they can fool everyone.

Although it has little water expertise, the county has decided it can turn down rural rezonings if someone in its bureaucracy says the proposed development doesn’t have an adequate water supply.

And officials contend they have that right even when state water officials have certified that the project DOES have enough water. I’m betting the first property owner to challenge that idea in court will win.

The silliness continued last month with the breathless announcement that the county has changed the name of its sewer agency from the Wastewater Management Department to (drum roll, please) the Pima County REGIONAL Wastewater Reclamation Department.

Wow! That will really make the county more important once the new stationery, signs and logos are printed.

Meanwhile, Tucson Mayor Bob Walkup and Councilmembers Regina Romero, Rodney Glassman, Karin Uhlich, Shirley Scott, Steve Leal and Nina Trasoff apparently are seeking money to establish the city as a major force in educating local kids.

Some want to develop their own curriculum of classes for after-school recreation programs and to spend city money to expand existing programs in local public schools.

Those are also bad ideas. Tucson Unified, Amphitheater, Flowing Wells and Sunnyside school districts, along with parochial, private and charter schools, already are in the education business. They need more money, but they don’t need another bureaucratic finger in the pie.

Fortunately, the schools probably won’t retaliate by venturing into city business like garbage collection, street repairs and traffic management.

The city should focus on improving those areas. No one has accused it of handling any of them perfectly.

Politicians should stick to what they were elected to do. Until they improve their performance, they don’t need to look for new challenges.