Carbon County officials are taking a hard look at their spacing issues.

On Thursday, the commissioners voted to advertise a legal notice to refinance the county’s bond to free up money for more space.“We have space issues and maintenance issues we need to address,” Commissioners’ Chairman Wayne Nothstein said.The bond is also being refinanced because of near all-time low interest rates.“We have a long-term need so we are going to make available about $7.7 million,” Commissioner William O’Gurek added. “We are preparing for the future.”The board said that details have not been finalized but plans for how the county will make additional space available for departments will be outlined later this year.In recent years, the county purchased a building on the east side of Jim Thorpe, which will become the new archives building, after multiple attempts at purchasing additional building space in the immediate downtown area was unsuccessful.“We have been hearing complaints for years and we’re going to do some things,” O’Gurek said, noting that some projects may begin as early as next year.Nothstein said that the problem lies in the lack of available space in downtown Jim Thorpe, adding that some departments in the courts, specifically the district attorney’s office and adult probation department, must be close to the courthouse.The board pointed out that the county has a little over $2 million in its debt service fund and a 0.25-mill in real estate taxes earmarked for debt services. A 0.25-mill generates approximately $430,000.“One of the things the three of us said when talking about new money and preparing for the future was we didn’t want to borrow money and create a situation where we had to increase debt service taxes,” O’Gurek said. “We aren’t going to do that. We are going to borrow money for a length of time to be determined, but we have significant resources and we know what 0.25 mills brings in. We feel confident we can make annual payments to a bond issue that would make money available for long-term projects without impacting the tax base.”The commissioners said that the bond issuance is expected to close in December. A more in-depth report on the county’s plans for the future will be announced then.