Mecklenburg County Plans To Start Building Again

Mecklenburg County plans to begin borrowing money for building projects three years after the recession put a halt to most construction. County staff identified 17 new projects that would cost about $156 million. The county would need to borrow $100 million of that. Those projects include building three schools that would replace McClintock Middle, Pineville and Bain elementaries and renovating Alexander Graham Middle. There are also upgrades of a couple CPCC buildings, and two greenway projects on the list. County Budget Director Hyong Yi says the county is in a good situation to start borrowing again. "We saw this opportunity to ease into the bond market to borrow money," says Yi. "So $100 million isn't a lot of money compared to a billion dollars of authorization." In past years, voters have authorized the county to borrow about a billion dollars worth of bonds. The county didn't start any new construction over the last three years due to lower tax revenues. Before the recession, the county borrowed about $250 million a year for building projects.