Government cooperation is a good thing, but bigger units of government may not always do a better job.

A state study that focused on local units of government raises some interesting issues about when big government is good and when small government might be better.

The overall conclusion of the study is that Kansans must love government because they have so much of it. It does seem notable that a state of 2.7 million people has 4,000 units of local government, everything from city commissions and school boards to township boards and cemetery districts. That’s about one governmental body for every 670 people in the state.

Although the first reaction is that we don’t need all those entities and that consolidation would save money and improve services, that may not always be true.

Douglas County was one of three counties on which the Legislative Division of Post Audit focused. It got high marks for the degree of cooperation between city and county government. Local residents should be proud of the fact that city and county administrators, as well as elected officials, see the benefit of working together.

There are many tangible examples of that cooperation. The city and county share a jail facility, and their law enforcement agencies are housed in the same building. They have merged their fire and medical services as well as their planning functions. These are good moves that provide better coordination and probably save the county money.

By comparison, the auditors found that many counties and cities refuse to combine any services and even fight with one another. Sedgwick County and Wichita officials, for instance, are battling over annexation issues and water rights.

But sometimes, bigger government isn’t better. Prime examples of this are the small township and cemetery boards. For one thing, many of the positions on those boards are held by unpaid volunteers. You don’t get much more cost-effective than that. And, because they live close to the people they serve, they have intimate knowledge of their needs. All politics is local, you know.

The taxes levied by such governments go directly to benefit them by improving drainage, putting gravel on roads or maintaining a cemetery. The responsiveness of such local units of government probably far exceeds the service those residents would receive if those tasks were taken over by larger county bodies.

There probably are areas of the state where consolidation is warranted. The population of some rural counties probably doesn’t justify all the boards and commissions that currently exist. And local units of government that fight with one another and refuse to cooperate are just foolish and wasteful.

It’s wrong to assume, however, that bigger government always is better. If the small units can do a better job at a lower cost, why change?