The state Senate passed a bill Wednesday that will make it easier for towns and villages to consolidate government operations and combine things like water and sewer districts.

The proposal breezed through the Assembly on Monday and Gov. David Paterson has indicated that he will sign it.

Basically, the law will allow people to vote on proposals to combine government entities - to dissolve a village, for example, and have it become part of a neighboring town, or consolidate police agencies that serve areas in close proximity to one another.

The idea is to help communities eliminate overlapping layers of bureaucracy and thus save money on taxes.

Not every community will embrace the idea, and some people will fight any attempt to cut back on government jobs, but in cases where the majority of voters in the affected areas agree on consolidation, overlapping areas of authority - and the costs associated with them - can be drastically reduced.

Assembly Minority Leader Brian Kolb said this week that the “long overdue” law will “help reduce the staggering costs of government and its crushing burden on taxpayers.”

That being said, we'd like to see the state go even further and identify the overlapping functions and responsibilities handled by the multitude of state agencies.

The state employs more than 200,000 people, and because oversight, accountability and efficiency are not things the state does well, the opportunities to operate more cost-effectively are boundless.

If state lawmakers are serious about relieving some of the burden on the taxpayers, consolidation within state government has to be part of the solution.