Regardless of the outcome of the dispute between the Harford County Council president and the county executive regarding water and sewer rates, it's good to see someone on the county council performing a key legislative function, namely questioning the county executive.

In this matter, County Council President Billy Boniface has pulled his support for a billing schedule for water and sewer rates because of what he views as a key sticking point. In this case, it's a provision in the new rate schedule that would charge the owners of homes with sprinkler systems more for water than homes not protected by such fire suppression systems. Boniface wants the provision removed and the executive's office has retained the provision in the rate schedule. Though this newspaper previously has backed the idea that owners of homes with sprinklers shouldn't pay higher water rates, it's a public policy where there can be legitimate differences of opinion.

In voicing opposition to what Boniface last week called a "fire readiness surcharge," he and County Councilman Joe Woods, who represents Fallston and surrounding areas, have done something that has been lacking in county government in recent years: serving as a check on the authority of the executive branch. Furthermore, they didn't simply voice opposition, they backed it by procedurally leaving open the possibility that the proposed new rate schedule would be allowed to die if the offending provision were not removed.

All too often in recent years, this key role of the county council is forgotten by those elected to serve in the local legislative branch. It is a reality of the U.S. governmental system that it isn't designed for efficiency. If it were, there would be no need for legislative branches, be they county councils or Congress. It would be much more efficient to simply elect dictators who could govern unchallenged. The problem, of course, is that under such a system an elected dictator could simply cancel the next round of elections.

In Harford County, the legislative branch has been a fairly timid body when it comes to challenging and questioning the programs and policies put forth by the county executive's office. Part of this can be explained by the relative political homogeneity in local government, as Republicans have dominated county government's executive and legislative branches for about two decades.

Still, the checks and balances built into a government with a legislative branch were not designed to depend solely on a division between political parties. The presumption is that two people, regardless of party affiliation, given the same set of facts, could draw different conclusions. Philosophically speaking, both Democrats and Republicans have recognized this, with possibly the best example in recent history being Ronald Reagan's idea of Republican Party that has a "big tent," wherein there is room for diversity of opinion within the party.

Something of an extreme opposite of the allowance for a diversity of opinion seems to have taken root in Washington, D.C., where the legislative branch has come down fairly solidly against anything coming out of the executive branch, in what appears to be an effort to secure political advantage for one party.

This is the opposite of what is too often a rubber-stamp legislature that operates in Harford County. That Boniface and Woods have shown themselves willing to question something put forth by the administration of David R. Craig, though all three are Republicans, shows that the system can be made to work, regardless of the party affiliations of those in office, if issues are viewed from the perspective not of party politics, but what constitutes good public policy.