Dougherty Library Board deserves apology

The Dougherty County commissioners should promptly apologize to the Library Board chairman and their board members. Once again we have seen the arrogance and poor leadership from several of our elected county commissioners. At a time when we need strong leadership to make tough budget decisions, the Library Board did just that, made good management decisions. When funds are not available, cuts must be made.

Budget cuts are never popular, but that is what is required from responsible leaders.

When challenged by reductions in their funding from the state, the Library Board was forced to make tough decisions, and the Library Board did just that. However, instead of being praised for their leadership, they were chastised and inappropriately drilled about their decision to close two low-utilization libraries out of the five libraries located within a seven-mile radius of each other.

The county commissioners cannot even manage their own financial budget issues, as proven by the recent 2-mil increase in property taxes for the unincorporated district. They have depleted their reserves over the past six years. There have not been any significant budget reduction recommendations from the Finance Committee during this same time period.

Now the county commissioners want to second-guess another board