As the Legislature comes under increasing fire for its partisan shenanigans, it is nice to be able to compliment one compromise in the Capitol that, eventually, brought out the best in both sides.

The compromise was over Senate Bill 339, which originally would have given counties a veto power over any annexation into its jurisdiction by a city in another county.

The measure was a response to a long-running dispute sparked by a property owner whose small development in Jefferson County was so close to Helena sewer lines that he was required by the state to hook up to them. The catch was that the city requires that the owners of property attached to city utilities agree to annexation.

This put Jefferson County commissioners on a war footing. They objected to an annexation that would negate the property's citizen-initiated rural-type zoning and replace it with Helena's city-type zoning.

As a reason for hostilities, this might not rank up there with Pearl Harbor or the blitz into Poland, but the commission quickly sought an attorney general's opinion, filed a lawsuit, and asked Sen. Terry Murphy, R-Cardwell, to sponsor his bill. This reaction left Helena officials feeling a bit bemused: All this over a couple of lots?

So the matter stood until last week, when both parties and Jefferson County's two legislators reached an eminently sensible accord. The new language drops the county's veto and instead requires that cross-county annexation may occur only if the city and the county sign on to an interlocal agreement that provides a joint planning board and "jurisdictional equality."

Jefferson County is assuaged, the city is happy the law has been clarified, and the rest of us should be grateful that local leaders were able to sit down and work their problems out.