Counties across the state need new schools and share the challenge of figuring out how to pay for them.

Several dozen county leaders came looking for answers in Raleigh at a daylong conference Wednesday sponsored by the N.C. Association of County Commissioners.

Nearly $10 billion will be needed statewide in the next five years, much of it to build new schools to meet a projected enrollment increase of nearly 70,000 students, according to a recent report from the N.C. Department of Public Instruction.

Proceeds from the new state lottery will help counties fund some construction, but the biggest share will remain the responsibility of the counties. The lottery will raise an estimated $160.5 million a year for school construction, allocated to counties using on a sliding scale that accounts for enrollment and local tax effort. Wake County school leaders expect about $9 million of that.

Wake is betting on a $970 million bond referendum Nov. 7 to finance most of a $1.056 billion construction program for the next four years.

Mecklenburg County is holding off on a second try at a major bond vote after voters soundly rejected a $427 million proposal last fall. County leaders now plan to meet immediate needs by borrowing $123 million by using certificates of participation, which don't require voter approval -- and then scheduling a bond vote for next November.

In the meantime, Mecklenburg County Manager Harry L. Jones told his counterparts, he and other county leaders are working to restore confidence in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system, which has been battered in recent years. A citizens committee has said the school district should reduce construction costs by 10 percent, he said, and look for other innovations. To save money, schools might be built without gymnasiums or without cafeterias, with a contract instead with private businesses for food service.

A key to winning support for spending on school construction, he said, is winning public confidence in the schools.

"A school system that citizens have confidence in is a driver of economic development," Jones said.

Cabarrus County, just north of Mecklenburg, has been able to control rapid suburban growth with an ordinance that requires developers to share in the responsibility of providing school capacity, said John D. Day, county manager. But the county has also been able to apply the same rules within municipal boundaries, critical authority won by special state legislation.

Counties would be better off if all could use the same kinds of strategies that now apply only to a few, said Durham County Manager Mike Ruffin. Among them: impact fees, adequate facilities rules and land transfer fees. Durham collected impact fees for 2 1/2 years, but the courts recently ruled against that because the county lacked authority from the legislature.

"We're right back where every county is in North Carolina," Ruffin said after the conference. "The only source we have is the property tax dollar, and it's becoming increasingly difficult to persuade taxpayers that they should pay for growth."

Tony Gurley, chairman of the Wake County commissioners, hopes that Wake's short-term solution lies in making the case with voters.

"If the bond [issue] passes, a major part of the problem will be solved for the next couple of years," he said.

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