Natchez attorney Paul Benoist has launched an effort to abolish the government of the City of Natchez.

He’s not an anarchist, quite the opposite.

Benoist, like many city residents, is frustrated by what he sees as a bloated, dysfunctional city government.

We agree with him on that point.

But his plans to simply push a petition in hopes of getting legislation passed to dissolve city government is more show than substance.

It’s highly unlikely any such move could be passed anytime soon — and for good reason.

Before the city’s government could be dissolved much discussion and planning would need to be had prior to such a venture.

As many critics have pointed out, at least at the moment, if the city went away entirely, no sales tax revenue would flow back from the state.

But Benoist’s points are well taken. The city has for years been a poor steward of taxpayer money, often spending itself in annual cash crises.

But we hope Benoist’s efforts can lead to a serious and non-political discussion of the benefits of merging our community’s two government entities into one, if at all possible.

At the very least, we need to consolidate any and all services that can be merged to cut down government overhead and provide the best, most efficient use of taxpayer money possible.

If raising a fuss about potentially dissolving the city’s form of government causes that discussion to materialize, then all the fuss and show will be worthwhile.