If you find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is stop digging. That good advice, usually attributed to humorist Will Rogers, is apparently lost on Wisconsin’s legislative leaders.

On Monday they announced a deal to get the state out of a $527 million budget hole by — shoveling as fast as ever.

As the full Assembly and Senate consider the plan this week, somebody should yell, “Stop!”

The budget repair deal is based chiefly on accounting tricks, draws on surpluses and borrowing — the same shenanigans that helped to dig the budget hole in the first place.

Absent, with a few exceptions, are the spending cuts or tax increases required to truly put the budget on solid ground.

As a result, the plan pushes the budget problems into the future, but does not solve them.

With a fix like this, taxpayers can bet Wisconsin will be fixing again and again as the state lurches from budget crisis to budget crisis — until the crisis grows too big.

With a $527 million budget shortfall to deal with, the plan announced Monday would make less than $100 million in substantive changes in the state’s budget behavior.

Those changes include $69 million in spending cuts and $15 million in tax increases from closing breaks for corporations.

The three biggest categories in the plan show how the lawmakers keep digging. The plan asks the state to:

n Borrow $209 million against promised future payments to the state.

n Transfer $125 million owed to schools into the next budget by delaying the payment date.

n Tap into reserves to come up with $97 million.

The effect would be to leave the next budget with more obligations and less money in reserve.

If this sounds familiar, that’s because lawmakers have been pulling similar stunts for years, trying to avoid tough choices by pushing problems into the next budget.

To his credit, Gov. Jim Doyle threatened to use his veto on the proposed budget repair. But Doyle has proposed his own irresponsible fixes, including a “rob Peter to pay Paul” raid on the state transportation fund.

Lawmakers should reject the budget repair deal and tell their leaders to go back to the negotiating table.

It’s time for Wisconsin to stop digging.