Commissioners approve new hours for Evans library

Extended hours are coming to the new library in Evans on Thursdays and Saturdays.

Columbia County commissioners approved the new hours Tuesday as part of a final budget review.

Commissioners unanimously agreed to allow Thursday hours at the library to be extended by three hours and Saturday hours to be extended by one hour.

As a result, the library will now be open from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday and Friday, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 2 to 5 p.m. Sunday.

Barry Smith, Columbia County's Community and Leisure Services director, told commissioners the need for more help because of the extended hours and added patrons visiting the new facility would require a $42,000 increase in the library budget.

"It's been so well received by the public,'' Columbia County Commission Chairman Ron Cross said about the library.

Also at Tuesday night's board meeting, commissioners voted unanimously to approve a rezoning of a one-acre site on Hereford Farm Road from Residential-2 to Professional-1 to allow a doctor's office there.

Alana Heaton, a resident who lives near the property, argued against the rezoning, saying she doesn't think the professional zoning is appropriate for the area's neighborhood surroundings.

"We as neighbors are afraid of the domino effect,'' she said.

The developer and property owner, however, said they feel a doctor's office would provide the best use for the land and wouldn't cause a domino effect of other such developments in the area.

Concerning the final budget update for the 2006-07 fiscal year, commissioners voted unanimously in favor of the final budget review and to move forward to a final approval vote that is set for June 6.

The budget calls for a total general fund amount of $48.3 million, about a 9 percent increase from the previous fiscal year.

County officials have said they were able to balance the budget without the need of a millage increase.

As part of the night's discussion, though, Commissioner Steve Brown did question whether the county would ever be able to have a millage rollback with increased personnel in the county government as a result of area growth.

"I don't see, if we grow like we're growing, I don't see there will ever be a rollback,'' he said, adding that he supports an impact fee for the county to help offset growth costs.

Impact fees are charged to developers to help pay for future needs as a result of residential and commercial growth.

Funding from the fees must be used in the area of the development, and the current law doesn't allow the fees to fund new schools.