The full scope of Moore County's projected growth by 2010 held the attention of the county commissioners throughout the first day of a two-day planning retreat Tuesday.

The Board of Commissioners debated the pros and cons of a land transfer fee and learned of critical space problems in the courts facility and the county jail.

This information was accompanied by a projected population increase to 100,000 by 2010.

"It sounds like a crisis situation to me, and we really need to get on it," Commissioner Cindy Morgan said after brief but startling comments from both Sheriff Lane Carter and Clerk of Superior Court Catherine Graham.

Although the recent appointment of a district attorney and a resident Superior Court judge is expected to alleviate the county's trial backlog, it also presents serious space issues, on top of the existing space problems in the clerk's offices and in the sheriff's quarters located in the basement of the Courts Facility.

Graham said that the county needs an additional courtroom as well as office space for the new district attorney and the new judge and their staffs. And her own offices are so crowded that staff members are working from the middle of the floor, and sometimes clients are lined up against the wall waiting for service. She recently discontinued handling passport applications because of inadequate space and insufficient staffing.

"I am completely out of space," Graham said.

Carter said the issue needs a solution in short order.

"We have nine people in one office sitting on top of each other," the sheriff said. "We've got detectives working on top of other detectives."

Carter added that Carthage also has a serious lack of parking space, a situation that is especially acute when jurors are summoned to Superior Court. He reported a jail occupancy of 126 inmates on Tuesday, well beyond jail capacity.

Carter said that the availability of a local D.A. and a local judge will help with the backlog and should speed up the discharge of inmates. He said that the D.A. can request reduced bail in suitable cases, can secure the removal of mental patients from the jail and many other things that will ease jail crowding issues, but it just goes so far.

"We can't keep putting a Band-Aid on it," Carter said. "Bad guys need to be in jail, and we've got a lot of bad guys."

The jail is highly functional, Carter said, explaining that it is just not large enough.

County Finance Officer Lisa Hughes advised the board that the debt on the jail project is due to be paid off in 2011.

This discussion came after Public Works Director Marcus Jones told the commissioners that the county needs to start the design process for construction of a government complex and a safety complex, the latter to encompass the Sheriff's Department and the jail. He estimated that it would cost $37,000 to contract for design service and that once the process is started, it would take two to three years to complete construction.

A proposal to seek an architect for the design work may be on the board's Feb. 19 meeting agenda.

Alternative Funding Examined

Meeting at Little River Golf Resort, the commissioners opened the Tuesday-morning session by brainstorming issues related to the infrastructure, education, economic development and non-tax revenue generation.

The idea was to develop goals and funding resources to accomplish the innumerable issues needing the commissioners' attention in the coming year and especially in preparation for the 2007-08 budget.

The subject of a land transfer tax met with a mixed reaction from the commissioners, although the idea was not withdrawn.

Commissioner Larry Caddell expressed the opinion that people who have lived here all their lives should not be expected to bear the full burden of improving infrastructure to accommodate the mass of newcomers to Moore County. He noted that Dare County, a coastal county, has a land transfer tax.

Commissioner Tim Lea pointed out that in the past it has been difficult to get the issue through the General Assembly. Those counties, such as Dare, that have land transfer fees have accomplished them through local legislation. A statewide law to provide counties with this alternative revenue source has "been turned down a hundred times," he recalled.

Medicaid relief, a land transfer fee and a statewide education bond issue are subjects advanced by the N.C. Associa-tion of County Commissioners as priority legislative goals.

Medicaid represents about $4 million in Moore's annual budget. If the legislature decides to relieve counties of this burden, that money could be directed toward schools or other needs.

'Start Somewhere'

Interim County Manager Cary McSwain said it would be practical to have statewide legislation making such an alternative revenue source as a land transfer fee available to all interested counties. He said such a law would work better than the present system whereby each county must seek local legislation for such alternative sources.

Caddell suggested that the county contact local municipalities and ask them to adopt resolutions supporting the measure, then approach local legislators to introduce the bill.

"If you don't start somewhere and set a goal, you're never going to do it," Caddell said.

Lea voiced no opposition but said counties should move ahead first on the Medicaid issue while the subject is getting a more positive look by the legislature. The land transfer issue, he said, does not appear to be a priority with lawmakers.

Commissioner Jimmy Melton said the county should push ahead on the Medicaid issue, then follow up on Caddell's suggestion about seeking support from municipal bodies.

"I think we need to separate the two (issues)," Melton said. "In the future, we'll need the bond."

Morgan supported setting Medicaid relief and the school bond issue as priority items.

Florence Gilkeson can be reached at 947-4962 or by e-mail at florence@thepilot.com.