Publisher's Note: This article originally appeared in the Beaufort Observer.
Chocowinity Town Board to consider permitting a new county jail at its June 3 meeting
The Chocowinity Town Board will hold the fate of a 15% tax increase for all taxpayers and renters in Beaufort County in its hands when it meets Tuesday (6-3-14). It will be considering a request to change the Zoning Ordinance to allow a jail to be built in the Chocowinity Industrial Park. It is expected they will do one of two things: either kill the idea by refusing to consider the change to allow special use permits or they will call for a public hearing on the proposal. A public hearing is required by law before they can proceed.
The normal procedure the board follows is to allow for public comment on issue before the Board discusses it. The Board can either approve the staff's recommended text revision or it can simply reject it. It could send the proposal back to the Planning Board for further consideration. The Planning Board has already voted unanimously to recommend that the board reject the proposed change. And of course, the Town Board could kick the can down the road by not making a decision June 3. But in the meantime the County will be spending an average of $11,000 a day to plan and design the facility at that site.
There is considerable opposition to the proposed change in the ordinance. A group of citizens has organized as the Stop The Jail Committee and is raising money to file a lawsuit to block the jail. The Committee is headed by Chocowinity resident Harold Smith.
Smith told the Observer:
We are opposed to a new jail in Chocowinity at this time because: 1. This is not the time to raise taxes on all of Beaufort County to pay for a new complex, 2. There is a greater need for a new middle school in Chocowinity and this site is clearly the best place for that school. If another site has to be found for a school it will increase the cost and decrease the probability of the school being built anytime soon if the county spends 20-30 million on a jail/law enforcement center before the school needs are met, 3. Duke Energy is currently preparing a study to determine the best way to develop the Industrial Park and we feel the Town should wait to see what the study says before it allows a jail to be built there, 4. We think the Town should not use the existing sewer treatment capacity for a jail until it can be sure there will be enough capacity for commercial and residential development that will increase the tax base.
Those are our reasons that impact the Town of Chocowinity. There are other reasons we oppose this project that are within the purview of the County. They are: 1. The current jail meets all applicable state standards. If there is a need to address overcrowding at any particular point in time the excess load can be contracted out to surrounding counties for much less cost than building a new facility. 2. If/when a new jail is built it should be located behind the Courthouse where the court rooms are located. 3. The overcrowding of the existing Sheriff's Department is caused by the growth in personnel assigned there and we believe that problem would best be addressed by reassigning those personnel in the field and even perhaps establishing satellite offices in Belhaven and Aurora rather than building a complete new facility.
In other words, it makes no sense to build a new jail/Sheriff's Office at this time while so many people and businesses are struggling to pay their taxes and rent (which includes property taxes).
Moreover, we are strongly opposed to the way the County is planning to finance this project. The N. C. Constitution requires an increase in the County's debt to be voted on by the people. A one-vote majority on the County Commission has refused to allow such a vote. The statutes the County is relying on to borrow this money without a vote of the people were intended for projects that would pay for themselves, either from the revenue they generate or an incremental increase in the tax base. The jail will do neither of these things. The only way this jail can be built is with the use of tax funds and we think the constitution therefore requires a referendum. If we have to go to court on this issue it will just be wasting more taxpayer money.
Smith went on to say that he and others will appeal to the Chocowinity Town Board to eliminate the Industrial Park as a site for the jail and that they go ahead and take that position rather than string it out while the County spends money planning for the site. "This is not a good thing for Chocowinity and the sooner the Town Board takes that position the better for everyone concerned."
The meeting will be held Tuesday, June 3 at 7:00 p.m. in the Chocowinity Town Hall. The meeting is open to the public.
