While it may have gone virtually unnoticed beyond the county’s borders earlier this month, Macomb County will have a new, streamlined government structure in place next year.

The county’s current 26-member board of commissioners will be cut in half and a county executive will be added as a result of the new charter approved by 60 percent of county voters on Nov. 3.

After the new charter was approved — set to take effect after the 2010 elections — the Detroit News editorialized favorably:

All of this should help the county overcome chronic budget shortfalls that can be attributed in part to the current diffuse governing structure, which encourages overspending.

But that conclusion doesn’t exactly jibe with the dramatic spending cuts to the county’s health department is being forced to make now — cuts that seem to have nothing to do with overspending but rather the misfortune of being too dependent on property tax revenue at a time when property values are in free fall.

Even so, the new government structure sounds like it will result in a leaner board of commissioners, as well as other cost-saving consolidations. It may also result in stronger leadership, courtesy of a strong executive.

The new charter does give the county some more taxing authority — elected commissioners can increase the tax levy from 4.56 mills to 5.19 mills provided voters approve the increase. That should help stabilize county finances down the road, but in the short term as the county faces more budget cuts, help will have to come from someplace else first.