Quincy mulls 2017 city budget

QUINCY — The city of Quincy is anticipating spending about $11.9 million in 2017 — including roughly $5.5 million on renovating its city hall and building a new fire station.

In its 2017 preliminary budget, made public at a Tuesday evening city council meeting, the city expects to spend $5.4 million to fund ongoing operations — including $2.7 million on police and another $900,000 on fire fighting — on revenue of about $5.9 million, with an expected $9.5 million carried forward from the current year.

“That’s just our accumulation over the years,” said City Administrator Tim Snead.

Among the major projects the city is planning on embarking on this coming year is the construction of an $11.7 million reverse osmosis industrial wastewater treatment facility to deal with the vast amounts of water used by the city’s data centers and agricultural processors. The bulk of the funding is expected to come either from a loan or from grants, and the city has currently secured $1.7 million in funding from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the State of Washington.

In addition, Quincy will continue the work on its city hall complex, setting aside roughly $2.7 million for the renovation of its existing administration building and expecting to spend another $3 million on a new fire station north of the railroad tracks.

Quincy has also set aside $250,000 to begin design and engineering work on a new recreation center.

“It’ll cost a lot more than that,” Snead said. “We’re just beginning, and you have got to have a design.”

The city also expects to spend $600,000 on engineering and construction to replace what Snead referred to as “very old water lines” on Q Street Southeast.

The bulk of the city’s revenues — $3.7 million for the general fund — come from property and sales taxes, with fees for water service ($1.3 million), domestic and industrial sewer ($3.1 million), and garbage ($1.2 million) providing revenue for separate capital and operating funds.

The city hopes to end with a surplus of roughly $3.5 million at the end of the year.

The Quincy City Council is scheduled to meet at 6 p.m., Nov. 14, to discuss the preliminary budget.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached via email at countygvt@columbiabasinherald.com.