Marion County school officials are moving forward with a roughly $150 million project to build a combined grade 6-12 campus in Dunnellon, but rising interest rates mean taxpayers will foot nearly $38 million of that just in interest alone.
The new campus, planned for the land behind Dunnellon High School, would bring together students from Dunnellon Middle and Dunnellon High School, nearly 1,700 students total, making it the first 6-12 school in the Marion County School District.
What the project will cost
Deputy Superintendent Ben Whitehouse confirmed the scope of the price tag.
“We’re anticipating it’s about a $150 million project,” Whitehouse said.
Of that total, $37.8 million is interest. The district’s interest rate on construction projects was 3.89% in 2024. It has since risen to 4.62% — an increase of 0.73 percentage points.
The interest rate also applies to another project: a new North End Elementary School.
Why the district says waiting would cost more
Whitehouse acknowledged the financial pressure but said delaying construction would likely make things worse.
“The longer that we wait to do this project, if we wait three years to start the project, construction costs are going to be way higher than they are if we were to start right now,” Whitehouse said. “And interest rates, if we were to try to borrow the money three years from now, could potentially be higher than they are right now.”
The projected cost of the Dunnellon project is based on South Marion High School, a recently completed project that carried the lower 3.89% interest rate and cost slightly more than the current estimate.
How the district plans to pay for it
The district brings in about $40 million a year through a voter-approved half-cent sales tax. Officials use a portion of those funds to pay for ongoing projects while banking the rest each year.
To speed up the timeline, board members are also looking at securing a Certificate of Participation, a financing tool that allows the district to fund the project through a lease agreement. If approved, that would move the project’s completion date from 2031 to as early as 2029.