Dare County Early College garnered attention from the county’s commissioners in early December.
In the financial realm, the agenda called for a budget amendment for fiscal year 2026 for debt service for the Early College Series 2025A Limited Obligation Bonds based on the final amortization schedule.
The 2026 debt service amount is $976,996, which was transferred from the Dare County Schools Capital Investment Fund.
That fund, created in 2014, receives funding from Dare County’s portion of two sales taxes called Article 40 and 42, as well as North Carolina Education Lottery funds. By state law, the tax revenue and lottery funds are restricted to funding school capital projects.
To fund the building of the new Early College, the county issued $23,379,000 in Limited Obligation Bonds with a bridge interest rate of 4.02% and a rate of 4.18% for “all in,” which includes underwriter costs.