No one seems to know why the Moore County Board of Commissioners wound up debating the wisdom of a jail bond referendum in front of a Seven Lakes crowd on hand to witness the first meeting between the Commissioners and the Greater Seven Lakes Community Council [GSLCC].
But the debate provided the major fireworks in the Thursday, August 26 meeting, as Chairman Tim Lea questioned not only the method of funding the project but also suggested the county may be about to pay a substantially higher cost per jail bed than was recently paid for similar projects in other counties.
Morgan: 'Big debts crammed down our throats'
Lea, along with Commissioner Cindy Morgan, has voted twice in recent weeks to put the $50 million debt before the voters in a referendum. In each case, a majority that included Larry Caddell, Jimmy Melton, and Nick Picerno have turned away that idea in favor of funding the project through the issuance of limited obligation bonds. These bonds are secured -- like a mortgage -- by the property itself, and do not require voter approval.
"I'm the person who put the motion on the table," Commissioner Morgan said. "I did it because I had people talking to me asking why we would do this without asking the people to vote on it, because, ultimately, you do pay for it. . . . It makes really me sad to think that we sit here in Moore County and have the same kinds of behaviors happening at the Moore County level that we see in Washington DC, where we see these big debts being crammed down our throats and we don't have an opportunity to have our say."
Lea said he had no question about the need for a new jail: "When you net all the conversation out, there is no question that we need a new detention center. The question is whether we are going to let the people vote on it."
He recounted a recent conversation with former Board of Commissioners Chairman Michael Holden, who told Lea that the largest amount the Board had ever borrowed without voter approval was $9.9 million, for a new middle school.
"At some point, you've got to give back control of this country to the people," Lea said.
Noting growing deficits at both the federal and state levels -- and projected state cutbacks in next year's funding for schools -- Lea said: "We can go ahead and fund this project without increasing your taxes, but if this Board decides or if you decide that we are going to build a new school -- a new high school, a new middle school, or anything else -- based on the numbers that are on the table, we potentially are going to have to raise your taxes."
"We've got more red ink coming at us next year than this county has ever, in its history, dealt with."
"Does this mean the two of you [Lea and Morgan] would vote against this if we had a referendum in November?" Seven Lakes business owner Darrell Marks asked. "That you would not support a new jail?"
"No, I would vote for it," Lea replied.
"The issue is that the people who are going to pay for this should have a voice in this," he added.
Costs out of line?
Lea said the county had received bids for the project in July that put the cost at roughly $27-$29 million. Though that is less than the $32-33 million estimate the county had been using, Lea suggested that the Board and staff had believed all along that the bids would come in below estimates.
But even at the lower bid price, he suggested, Moore County may be paying to much. Lea said Harnett County had recently completed a new jail at a cost of $49,135 per bed, while the proposed cost of Moore County's facility would be $95,000 per bed.
"We are going forward with letting the bonds and choosing a contractor," he added, "and we still haven't gotten to the point of addressing whether this is a cost effective solution and a good way to spend your dollars."
Lea said some members of the county management team would be going to Harnett County on Monday to gather information that might explain the cost differential. He noted that the Commissioners are expected to vote on issuing the bonds during their September 20 meeting.
A critical need
The commissioners who have voted to move the project forward -- Melton, Picerno, and Caddell -- spoke before Morgan and Lea, and defended their position based on the critical need for a new jail and new offices for the Sheriff's office and other public safety operations.
Melton noted his forty years running a small business in the county and compared the limited obligation bond financing to a mortgage or other borrowing secured by property.
"When it comes to detention centers and jails and things like this . . . we're overcrowded and we have to do something," he said. "If we don't, the state can step in and force you to do something."
Picking up on that theme, Picerno noted that the Board had received a letter from the Grand Jury of Moore County in December 2009 urging the Commissioners to address overcrowding in the existing jail. He said the average inmate population in the 110-bed facility was 148 over the past three months and 151 in July -- with a peak population of 168 on July 19.
"That's overcrowded, in my book," Picerno said. "The environment right now . . . interest rates are at historic lows. This is a good time for us to build . . . we are building this thing at an '07 cost."
He added that, to date, he had had only one citizen, out of 84,000 in the county, call to discuss the matter with him.
Caddell noted that not just the jail is overcrowded. The sheriff's eighteen investigators work in an office area the size of the Community Center stage, he said. There is overcrowding in the courthouse, and conditions in the 9-1-1 call center, which is in a basement, "are deplorable."
"I did not do this haphazardly," Caddell said, adding that he is 110% sure that the Board is making the right decision.
Like Washington DC?
Picerno took an opportunity near the close of the meeting to rebut the claim that the County's spending decisions resemble those in the nation's capital.
Picerno noted that the county budget was $85 million in 2009, $71 million in 2008, and $68 million this year. The Board cut taxes last year and held them even this year.
"We don't do like Washington," he said, noting that he personally had worked hard to review every line item in this year's budget.
"We are being good stewards of your money. This Board does care. We are a good conservative, Republican Board and I hope you will continue to support us."
Public comment
Public comment on the matter was scant. John Marcum of Pinehurst said those Commissioners who voted in favor of taking on $50 million in public debt without a vote of the people should ask themselves how high that number would have to go before they went to the taxpayers.
Linda Tableman of Seven Lakes West noted that providing the jail is one of the county's obligations under the state constitution -- an "essential obligation of government."
"What happens if it is voted down?" she asked. "Do you get a cheaper building? Do you try again? How much money do you spend trying again? It has to be built."
