CABARRUS COUNTY, N.C. — Cabarrus County leaders approved a $450 million spending plan for Fiscal Year 2024 Monday night.
The 2024 budget was unanimously approved by county commissioners. County leaders said they're focusing on the future by investing in things like education, service to county residents, and public safety.
"Public safety is a top priority for a lot of folks and so that includes our fire departments, law enforcement agencies, and our EMS agencies," Steve Morris, the Chairman of Cabarrus County Commissioners, told WCNC Charlotte's Julia Kauffman.
Morris said as the area continues to grow, so are the servicing law enforcement agencies.
The 2024 budget includes $2 million for the planning and design of a new public safety training facility for the county and its cities' first responder agencies. Plus, the county's five-year spending plan attributes $35 million to the project, according to Morris.
"That would include our sheriff's office, the city of Concord and Kannapolis," Morris said.
Harrisburg's law enforcement will also be included.
"Both have their own police departments but we currently share a firing range where they do training, which is overcrowded," he said.
He said appropriate training and opportunities for first responders are essential to the entire community.
However, not everyone is on board with the training facility. A few citizens protested the plans Monday night before the commissioner meeting and called it a "cop city."
"Over the past two years, Cabarrus County has funded this here courthouse and now a public training facility," Jaymond Bryant-Herron said. "So, you have to question, is our priority to criminalize our youth or educate our youth?"
Right now county and city leaders are still ironing out the kinks to determine the total cost of the project, as well as details about the square footage and designs.
The facility will be near the youth detention center in Concord. The county is working on buying the land where the facility will go from the state. Leaders also plan to buy land where the condemned cottages from the Stonewall Jackson Center are.
Morris told WCNC Charlotte the county will soon look for a developer that will preserve the historic jail houses and repurpose them with a new life.
"Hopefully these buildings could be rehabilitated and put back into some productive use," Morris said.
Contact Tradesha Woodard at twoodard1@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Contact Julia Kauffman at jkauffman@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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