It’s better to have government that reflects how people live, rather than government that forces people to adapt to its self-serving wishes.

Life in the Inland Northwest can mean an urban dweller who commutes to the suburbs or vice versa. Residents routinely cross boundaries to work, shop and play without giving the dividing lines a second thought.

But for governments, those invisible lines mean everything. As a result, many problems arise. Some examples:

“Spokane Valley plans to sue Spokane County over a strip of land that is essential to extending Appleway Boulevard to the east.

“Spokane City Council and the county continually quarrel over the annexation of urban property.

“The county lowers its tax on card rooms, which undercuts the higher levy imposed by the city.

“Liberty Lake wants to assess an impact fee on developers to keep up with the demand for schools, but it needs the cooperation of Spokane Valley, the county and other governments in the Central Valley School District.

“Libraries and pools struggle to stay open in the city, but new ones open in the county.

“Spokane must decide whether to dump its ambulance contract with American Medical Response and join other local governments in an effort to improve service to outlying areas.

In a more sensible arrangement, the region would streamline overlapping governments and tap economies of scale to deliver services more efficiently.

Fewer school districts could mean fewer administrators and more teachers. It’s the same with fire and police protection. A comprehensive plan that outlines regional growth would be less vulnerable to the whims of local government leaders.

A formal consolidation of regional governments would be an enormous undertaking but ultimately worth it. However, voters shot down such an idea the last time it was floated.

That doesn’t mean the principle of streamlining services to reflect budgetary and lifestyle realities was dismissed. Governments can still enter into arrangements that would deliver more efficient services.

Ambulance service might be a good candidate. People don’t really care what jurisdiction an ambulance is attached to. They just want prompt, reliable service at a reasonable rate.

For too long, the city of Spokane’s contract left outlying areas with less reliable and more expensive service.

Spokane Valley, Airway Heights, Cheney, Medical Lake and seven outlying fire districts are working together to do something about that. If the city of Spokane were to join in, a single contract would cover about 400,000 county residents. The city’s involvement would draw more bidders, and the outlying areas wouldn’t have to incur start-up costs.

It’s an opportunity for governments to focus on what’s best for all residents, not just those within their fiefdoms.