Is local government in the North Country facing a major shakeup?

When I interviewed local government leaders in Essex County for a story on massive state budget cuts, I heard mostly about small, tweaking changes.

A language teacher cut here. An employee-suggestion box there.

One non-profit worker (whose job depends on county dollars) suggested that state employees should take a pay cut so that local funding could continue.

A business owner told me that New York state should simply find a way — somehow, anyhow — to keep the dollars flowing.

But with New York state already predicting an $8-9 billion shortfall next year, the coming revolution in local government may be on a different order of magnitude.

A few dramatic changes are already in the works: Essex County is considering the future of the Horace Nye nursing home, which it operates.

The town of Harrietstown is reviewing the wisdom of operating a full-service airport in Lake Clear.

But in my interviews, those “big think” moments seemed to be rare.

When I asked the head of Essex county’s board of supervisors, Cathy Moses, about consolidation and shared services, she answered this way:

“Shared services aren’t quite as easy in our rural conditions. Do you realize how far we have to go just to North Hudson? It’s like 15 or 20 minutes up the road.”

Fifteen or twenty minutes? That doesn’t seem like an insurmountable hurdle.

I heard similar resistance to consolidating school districts, even though many North Country districts — some of them clustered together — now have far fewer than 500 students.

The truth is that local government in our region maintain this balkanized, low-efficiency structure for two reasons.

First, because it means more jobs for locals. Make no mistake. The only way to cut government costs is to cut jobs and that’s tough medicine in the North Country.

And second because it’s emotionally harrowing to lose the identity and control that comes with the loss of a school or local highway department.

But with state and Federal dollars likely to shrink dramatically, those rationales may be viewed very differently in the years ahead.

In the end, sadly, a lot of painful decisions may have to be made in the heat of crisis. When the checks stop coming from Albany, things will have to change.

My prediction: Local governments that begin making smart, significant cuts now will emerge far stronger than their neighbors who wait until the last minute.