The New Era - All about Sweet Home since 1929

The news that the city is considering laying off library staff raises eyebrows on a number of fronts.

Given the way the numbers appeared in early November, when property tax revenues had not yet materialized, it’s understandable that city officials were concerned. But now, with much of the expected tax revenue rolling in, pulling the plug on trained library staff and cutting hours would appear to be a really bad move.

For a lot of reasons.

While it’s clear that the COVID shutdowns implemented by the state are beginning to impact our community in a lot of negative ways, not the least...