Downsizing the Erie County Legislature is no magic bullet that will help to provide better

government, reduce costs or induce comity. But it's worth doing, anyway.

Voters will have that chance in a referendum this November, following the Legislature's

approval of a measure to cut its number of seats to 11 from the current 15. It's a good plan,

better than the one that County Executive Chris Collins vetoed last year. Collins has said he

will sign this one.

The plan to shrink the Legislature is appropriate for a couple of reasons. For one, the

county's population is shrinking. We don't need now what we needed before. In fact, the

Legislature has been reduced in size more than once from its high point of 21 members.

For another, shrinking the size of the Legislature sends a useful message about the need to

control costs and to be attentive to changing circumstances. Reducing the costs of the

Legislature by eliminating four seats will have a negligible impact on county property taxes,

but it suggests that, at least to some extent, lawmakers are keeping their eye on the ball.

Last year's proposal would have shrunk the Legislature to nine members while lengthening

lawmakers' terms to four years from two. To cut six of 15 members might have been too ambitious, but the main problem

was pairing the reduction with the longer term. There is not necessarily a problem with longer

terms, but the issue needed to be considered separately from reducing the number of seats in

the Legislature. Collins acted reasonably in vetoing it.

This is a better plan. It reduces the size of the Legislature significantly, but not

drastically. Some members are concerned that representation of the city's minority population

in the county body could become diluted, but with care that potential problem can be avoided.

Nor was it worth waiting until after this year's census to make this change. Assuming the

referendum passes in November, lawmakers will be able to ... and must ... draw new lines based on

both the need for fewer, and thus larger, districts and to comply with the one-person,

one-vote standard as it evolves based on the results of the census.

In the end, this is a matter of representational hygiene. The Legislature is giving itself a

good scrubbing. Well done.