Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Education Infrastructure topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Board approves construction contract for Dare Early College and schedules public hearing on limited-obligation bonds
Summary
Commissioners approved the early college guaranteed maximum price (GMP) construction contract and set a public hearing for June on limited-obligation bonds that will finance the project, while a public commenter urged caution over long-term revenue assumptions.
The Dare County Board of Commissioners on May 5 approved a guaranteed maximum price construction contract for the new Dare Early College campus and set a public hearing in June for limited-obligation bonds the county will use to finance the project.
At a March 13 bid opening the early college construction contract base came in at $21,100,676 for the construction portion; county staff presented an all-in project budget in the meeting packet that accounted for additional costs beyond construction. County finance staff said the full project budget—the total of construction, soft costs, contingency and other project expenses—was included in the project ordinance presented to the board.
The board voted to adopt the capital project ordinance, approve the GMP contract and authorize the county manager to sign. They also agreed to call a public hearing for the proposed Series 2025A limited-obligation bonds to finance the project; the board set that hearing for the June meeting date and asked bond counsel to proceed with the timetable needed to meet Local Government Commission review deadlines.
Public comment included concerns about financing. Local resident Charles Parker asked the board to pause the bond process and raised questions about the project’s reliance on continuing state lottery or recurring funding, and whether the county should delay issuing bonds until state and federal fiscal conditions clarified. County and finance staff explained the school financing model, the sources planned for debt service and the county’s remaining debt capacity for school projects. County staff and the county’s financial advisers told the board the school capital plan retains capacity for the early college debt and that financing assumptions were conservative. The board approved the construction contract and the plan to seek bond approval following a public hearing.
The early college project will expand postsecondary access in Dare County; board members asked staff to provide full documentation at the June bond hearing and to include capital-improvement plan details in the final budget package.
