If you cannot beat them, leave them. That is exactly what the city of Dunkirk rightly did when it came to the workers’ compensation plan that was offered by Chautauqua County.

In late May, legislators in Mayville approved a law amending the county’s self-insurance plan regarding compensation. In the past, 40% of the workers’ comp plan costs were based on property valuation. The new law amended that to be based on wages of employees. The county would continue to charge 60% based on the five years claims experience.

It was not a winning formula for Dunkirk, which was expecting increased costs of more than $86,000 beginning this year. Council, however, did not wait and found a plan before the imposed July 1 deadline that could bring up to $90,000 in savings. It was unanimously approved last week by Common Council.

While this appears to be a positive result for everyone — as the county expects lesser costs — there is a negative. We continue to pit municipalities against each other. In this case, Chautauqua County was happy to pass on higher costs to the cities of Jamestown and Dunkirk as well as the village of Westfield while saving itself some funds in the end.

There’s nothing wrong with that, but can’t we all do a better job of working together? As long as there are 27 towns, 13 villages, two cities and one county government there will be battles that drive us farther apart rather than being partners, which in the end ultimately costs more money.

Chautauqua County is supposed to drive cooperation. In this case, it just looked out for itself. It’s not a shining example of leadership.