Quincy city budget includes money for street revisions, indoor activity center

QUINCY — The city of Quincy will spend about $86 million in 2023. Quincy City Council members voted unanimously to approve the 2023 budget at the Dec. 20 council meeting.

The budget includes a general fund of about $21.6 million. Most of the money for employee salaries and many city operations, like most parks and recreation and the Quincy Police Department, comes out of the general fund.

The city has about $12 million in a separate fund to build a new indoor sports complex. City Administrator Pat Haley said in a separate interview that the project has been in the works for a while.

“We still have the fieldhouse on the drawing board and we’re looking at funding sources for that,” Haley said. “We have been putting that money aside to do something.”

Council members voted in November to look for funding for the rest of the project. Estimated total cost is about $23 million, which includes some provisions for inflation. Haley said he doesn’t expect construction to start in 2023.

The option approved by the council is about 143,000 square feet, with room for two fields for 9-on-9 soccer and four fields for 7-on-7 soccer. The new facility also will have room for two basketball courts, with accommodations for basketball, volleyball and pickleball.

The city’s domestic sewer fund was budgeted at about $7.7 million, and the industrial sewer operating fund at about $4.3 million. The water fund was budgeted at about $11.2 million.

The street fund budget was approved at $1.5 million, with $3.7 million in the street construction reserve. Haley said city officials are working on a project to revise S Street Southwest and 13th Avenue Southwest to improve connections on 13th Avenue. Currently the only access from 13th Avenue Southwest to the rest of town is from the roundabout at F Street Southwest.

Haley said the revisions will require moving a Grant County PUD line, something the city would have to pay for.

The city’s park reserve fund was budgeted at $2.9 million, the capital improvements fund at $2.1 million and the sidewalk improvement fund at $2.4 million.

The budget also included an increase for the funding provided to the city’s EMS service, Protection One. The city’s payment was increased to $273,000 per year.

The council also will contribute $20,000 to the Quincy Valley Chamber of Commerce, $30,000 to the Quincy Valley Historical Society and $79,500 to the Quincy Senior Center.

Cheryl Schweizer can be reached at education@columbiabasinherald.com.