Candidates are espousing new schools, better roads and more parks. Few have any concrete ideas about how to pay for them, but some criticize the county government’s method of giving tax breaks to attract new businesses such as Concord Mills and Corning here.

Voters will select two of four Democrats and two of 10 Republicans from the ballot in the May 2 primaries. Those four candidates will be on the ballot in November. Incumbent Republicans Carolyn B. Carpenter and Sue Casper are both in the race.

The number of candidates is not unusual for the Cabarrus County commissioners race. Two years ago, 11 Republicans and four Democrats ran.

Republican candidates

• Incumbent Carolyn B. Carpenter, 46, 6526 Weldon Circle, Concord is currently the board’s vice chairman. Carpenter, a native of Charlotte who’s lived in Concord 20 years, is seeking a third term. She attended Rowan-Cabarrus and Central Piedmont community colleges and is now a financial specialist for First Union.

Carpenter has worked with Meals on Wheels for 10 years and serves on the board of visitors for Barber Scotia College. She served two years as chairman of the Board of Commissioners and is chairman of an 11-county coalition of county governments in the greater Charlotte region. That group lobbies state and federal lawmakers against unfunded mandates.

Carpenter also has served on the Cabarrus Juvenile Crime Prevention Council and the Cabarrus Child Protection Team, which reviews the deaths of children with whom social workers have been involved.

A member of the board for the Cabarrus Health Alliance, Carpenter said she helped get a mobile mammogram unit to visit businesses. She supported air conditioning and cafeteria improvements to A.L. Brown High School, water service in Coddle Creek and the Rocky River Treatment Plant to serve Midland.

• Incumbent Sue Casper, 65, 3011 Irish Potato Road, Concord is a member of Salvation Army’s advisory board. She is involved in aging and mental health issues.

Casper was the first woman elected supervisor for the Cabarrus County Soil and Water Conservation District. She has served on the N.C. Association of County Commissioners’ committees for human services, taxation and financing. She has served the Centralina Council of Governments and represents the Carolinas on the National Council of Regional Governments.

“My philosophy is that when you offer yourself for leadership, you do it when it’s convenient and when it’s not convenient,” Casper said.

• Challenger Walt Kiefer is completely opposed to the county’s tax incentives.

“I feel like the incentive program for this county should be over,” he said. “I drive through the county today, and everywhere you go, there’s construction. Our tax base should provide enough funds.”

Kiefer, 59, 24 Eastcliff Drive, is a a native of Mullens, West Va. Kiefer owned a Shoney’s restaurant in Concord, worked for Philip Morris in the quality assurance department, and now delivers trucks that roll off the line at Freightliner’s Cleveland manufacturing plant.

Kiefer is a former chairman of the Cabarrus County Board of Elections. He served on the Tourism Authority its first two years. He was chairman of the Cabarrus County Democratic Party in the 1980s, but switched parties in 1995.

A commissioner candidate in 1998, Kiefer criticizes Cabarrus County’s Unified Development Ordinance, a document now being written that would consolidate zoning laws in the county and its municipalities.

“The UDO is completely worthless as it stands now,” he said. “I think people ought to be able to do what they want with their property ... They’ve spent $172,000 and hired somebody out of Kansas to come up with this?

“We’ve wasted a whole year on it.”

• Randy Wiggins also dislikes the UDO. Wiggins, 51, of 6655 Flowes Store Road, Concord, is a native of Conway, S.C. He moved to Cabarrus County in 1980.

“I’m totally against the present unified development ordinance,” Wiggins said. “I know the ordinances. I know the procedures. I’ll always fight for people’s property rights, but there does need to be managing.”

Wiggins, a residential developer for 18 years, works for Mobile Home Properties. He is involved in a bluegrass association in the Carolinas and Georgia.

A U.S. Army veteran of the Vietnam War, Wiggins studied business management a year and a half at a technical school. He wants to improve Cabarrus County’s schools and roads, but isn’t yet prepared to say how they should be funded.

• Cameron C. Herrera says incumbent commissioners could work more effectively to attract businesses here.

Herrera, 38, of 7765 Orchard Park Circle, Harrisburg, is a Cabarrus County native. He holds accounting degrees from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and the University of Texas at Austiin. Today he’s a certified public accountant with an Internet startup.

“You have to work as a unified group with unified objectives,” Herrera said. “Commissioners need to take a leadership role. Most people have not been supportive of the business incentives because they have not been uniformly applied.”

• Neil C. Kratzer agrees. Kratzer, 33, of 6260 Highway 73, Mount Pleasant, grew up on a farm in Mifflinburg, Pa., moving here in 1985. Now a fencing and landscaping contractor, he attended UNC-Charlotte and Stanly Community College.

“I’m not opposed to giving away incentives to get people here,” he said, “but I don’t think we need to give away the whole farm to get them here.”

Kratzer says he sees another form of waste in county government: outrageous contracts for school construction projects.

“I work all over the county and I talk to people who make $12,000 a year and people that make $200,000,” he said. “And it seems like when we turn around and pay for something, we turn around two months later and it’s torn up.”

• Incentives don’t bother candidate Mark Martin as much.

“The tax incentives are relatively new to Cabarrus County,” he said. “I would recommend that we just continue monitoring them.”

Martin, 32, of 5876 Heartwood Court, is a national account executive for Osprey Systems of Charlotte, a computer consulting firm. Originally from Charlottesville, Va., he served on the Fluvanna County Economic Development Commission there and was on the executive committee for the Fluvanna County Republican Party. He was state director for the Jaycees of Virginia.

Martin moved to Cabarrus County in early 1997. He is the Harrisburg representative on the Cabarrus County Economic Development Commission. He says he wants to increase services to county residents while decreasing spending and taxes, but hasn’t yet decided on specific ways to do that.

• Other Republican candidates include Bob Carruth, 39, of 521 Todd Drive, Concord. Originally from Gainesville, Ga., Carruth moved here five years ago. He served in the U.S. Army’s Special Forces for 11 years, including time during the Persian Gulf War. A member of the Cabarrus Board of Equalization and Review, this is his first time running for elected office.

Carruth holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from North Georgia College. He is a loss prevention consultant for Wausau Insurance Co.

“I’ve got 17 years plus of managing people and products,” he said. “I feel like with my leadership background, we need someone who can lead us through the next 10 years. We’re going to see a tremendous amount of growth.

“Don’t let residential growth outpace business growth. I think it’s important that we keep that in perspective.”

Suggs ran for commissioner in a hotly contested race between 10 Republican candidates in 1998.

• Samuel “Sam” S. Spagnola, 29, of 1030 Piney Church Road, Concord could not be reached this week for comment. Spagnola is an attorney in Concord. He serves on the Humane Society’s board of directors.

Democratic candidates

Four people are in the Democratic primary.

• Reece R. Hatley, 66, of 351 Old Centergrove Road, Kannapolis, has ran unsuccessfully several times for a seat on the Kannapolis City Council. He retired from Pillowtex as a supervisor after a 35-year career there.

Hatley fought in the Korean War for the U.S. Navy. He holds a degree in industrial management technology from Rowan-Cabarrus Community College.

“I want to see the county continue to grow,” said Hatley, who supports tax incentives. “I think the revenue from new people coming in is going to help pay for new schools.”

• Randy D. Steele, 51, of 692 Williamsburg Court N.E., Concord is a Cabarrus County native who attended the Kannapolis schools. He attended Catawba College and UNC-Charlotte and earned a doctorate in educational leadership from Nova Southeastern University in Florida.

“I’m concerned with two huge issues, and one is the growth. I’m concerned that we ... have the infrastructure to support that growth and part of that infrastructure is the schools. I think we need to talk water, sewer, and I think we need to talk roads.”

Steele is principal of the Cabarrus County Opporunity School and the School for Environmental Studies, both magnet schools in the Cabarrus County school system. He is president of the Salisbury chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution and enjoys geneological research.

• The fourth Democratic candidate is Darrell Joyner, 51, of 3922 Miami Church Road. Joyner could not be reached either.