It’s certain that Haywood County’s citizens will vote on how to pay for a new justice center and jail.
When that vote will occur, however, is still not known.

Commissioners on Monday approved three legal documents that set the stage for the referendum to decide how to pay for the $36 million justice center, courthouse renovation, parking deck and jail. But Commissioner Mary Ann Enloe said she wanted a scale model of the justice center prepared for view by the public before the referendum.

“I don’t think it is prudent to have the referendum before people have had a chance to see the model,” Enloe said.

To vote this November during municipal elections, however, the county will have to set the date by the first of August, said county attorney Chip Killian. Although a special election this fall would cost the county $20,000, Local Government Commission officials advise that selling bonds in the winter usually brings a cheaper interest rate. That could offset the cost of the referendum.

But getting the full board together before then may be difficult unless it happens this week because Enloe will be gone the latter part of the month. County Manager Jack Horton said he would try to get the architects down this week and set up a meeting with commissioners.

Enloe got a unanimous commitment from the board to have the model finished before the vote. The budget for the justice center included $15,000 for the model.

Commissioner Wade Francis urged the board not to hurry, suggesting the referendum on how to finance the project could wait until the May 2002 primary election.

Commissioner Bill Noland, though, argued that the project should proceed “because we have a schedule of events, and it’s our schedule. We should stick to it.”

When the referendum is held, it will decide whether the county uses general obligation bonds (which require voter approval and have a lower interest rate) or certificate of participation bonds (which don’t require voter approval but have higher interest rates).

Although the referendum is only to decide on a financing plan, critics of the cost of the center have argued that an overwhelming defeat for general obligation bonds would indicate a need to downsize the project.

 

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