Gov. Cuomo is crowing over a most excellent pretend victory over his favorite fantasy menace, New York’s supposed plague of excess local governments.

New state rules order counties and towns to find ways to cut costs by sharing services, with final savings plans due Sept. 15.

“You have to tighten your belt. You have to find out where you can save money and . . . share services,” says the gov, calling it a way to confront “the issue of property taxes.”

That’s preposterous; there’s just not much to save here. Of the 10,000-plus “districts” that Cuomo says duplicate services, more than half are just administrative labels. They don’t have their own HR departments or cops, as he suggests.

And many towns already share resources. Those that don’t probably don’t want to: Voters have often defeated town mergers and other consolidation plans. Nor do towns face any penalty for not cutting costs.

Hmm: If the gov’s so worried about overlapping services, why has he sent state troopers to places like JFK and La Guardia airports, where Port Authority cops already patrol and the NYPD’s available if needed?

In fact, Cuomo’s focus on this phantom menace lets him ignore the real drivers of high property taxes: State laws give public employee unions the upper hand in contract talks, pushing up wages and benefits.

The Legislature has also fanned the flames of the pension crisis — which leaves local governments across the state staring at massively underfunded retirement costs.

Cuomo’s 2011 property-tax cap has helped — but to provide real relief, he’d have to take on the unions. Sadly, he finds it safer to fight a bogeyman.