Frankly, it's a pitiful shame that it has come to this. Gov. Linda Lingle gave a dour Web address to the public Thursday — just shy of the Labor Day weekend — underscoring that the state is having to cut its roster of jobs for the foreseeable future.

A much smaller government, something union leaders feared early on, now seems inevitable. More important, additional jobs will be lost and programs cut back even further.

Sadly, there's plenty of blame to go around on this one. As the labor dispute over public employee contracts drags on, the gaping budget shortfall only grows larger. And the process surely has not been helped by the political posturing along the way.

Schools and the university system have started the academic year under a cloud of uncertainty over just how deep these cuts will be; families relying on the state's largest employer — government — have been in living in financial limbo; and it sends a dreadful message to the business community about the ability of some of our key leaders — when it counts most — to get the job done.

Taxpayers have found it hard to avert their gaze from this train wreck; the deficit could have — and should have — been narrowed with an earlier settlement.

In lieu of progress on that front, people are rummaging around in the tool kit for other aids. Could tapping the hurricane and rainy-day fund help? Might lawmakers be contemplating ways to supplement state revenue through tax increases?

Undoubtedly. But neither strategy will be enough to cover the gap, now around $1 billion.

So yes, the governor is right that keeping the state fiscally above water is going to take a restructuring of government.

The question is: How will that be accomplished?

The administration took some pointed criticism last week from legislators who, quite rightly, wondered what rationale guided the executive branch in key decisions, such as the gutting of the revenue-generating state film office as well as agricultural inspection staffing.

One strategy the governor identified is that downsized or eliminated state functions could be transferred to corresponding agencies at the county and federal levels.

That may be true, for example, in the case of the film office. But city officials said they have not been involved in any discussion of the idea. Should city leaders not have been consulted, if they're expected to pick up the slack? Such insular behavior just won't cut it in times like these.

Now more than ever, we need all stakeholders — state, counties, labor and management — working collaboratively to help shape the new structure of government focused on enhancing efficiencies across agencies.

Given what we've seen thus far, that may seem too idealistic an expectation. But in a budgetary crisis as dire as this, it's time to call on such ideals.

If Hawai'i is to plan its return to fiscal prosperity, that conversation must begin now.