Supervisors should balance the interests of the entire county

Dear Editor,

While I fully understand that supervisors must be concerned with their own districts, they are elected to serve the whole county. It troubles me to read that some of our Board of Supervisors continue to place their parochial concerns above the welfare of all.

In the May 2 article entitled, "Board votes down at-risk preschool funding again," two of the supervisors stated their reasons for line-item vetoing the pre-K program for at-risk four-year-olds. Mr. [Don] Sowder said it wouldn't benefit anyone in Midlothian so he voted against it. Mrs. [Renny] Humphrey would only vote for it if it helped her district. What kind of message is that?

Perhaps the board members do not realize that they don't have line-item veto authority over the School Board budget. All they succeeded in doing was taking $750,000 away from schools (interestingly, they did not seem to grasp that because this program is funded with matching dollars, they reduced the budget by $375,000, more than they needed to in order to make their point).

It's time the board starts looking at Chesterfield as a whole community that works together and helps each other progress into the future successfully. Our future needs within the county will be affected by what we do today. Serving the greater good is an important focus, and perhaps one day board members will be able to strike that delicate balance between their self-interest and the common good.

Carla Rogers

Bon Air