Parks district vote could be coming up in Quincy

QUINCY — Residents of Quincy, George and some rural areas around Quincy may be voting on a proposal to create a new regional parks district. Quincy Administrator Pat Haley said money raised through the district would help pay for the proposed indoor sports facility, called the Q-Plex, along with a new Quincy Aquatic Center and help pay for their operation.

“We’re calling it the Quincy Valley Regional Parks District,” Haley said. “So it’s not like the city is forming a new parks and recreation district - we have that already. This is actually a separate entity.”

The regional parks district would include Quincy and George as well as unincorporated areas around Quincy. Haley said the park district boundaries would be the same as the Quincy School District. The proposal would require a bare majority, 50% plus one vote, to be approved.

Quincy City Council members voted to submit the proposal to voters at the June 6 meeting. The proposal must be approved by the George City Council and the Grant County Commissioners before it could be put on the ballot. If the commissioners and George council members agree to the proposal, it would go before the voters in November.

If the regional parks district is formed, property owners would pay 50 cents per $1,000 of assessed property value.

Haley said the money raised through the parks district must be used for specific projects.

“It just doesn’t bundle into the (Quincy) parks and rec department or the city general fund. It’s specifically for a couple of items. In this case it’s going to be for the fieldhouse and for the swimming pool,” Haley said.

“The fieldhouse and the pool are very expensive entities and we just don’t have the cash,” he said.

The district, if it’s approved, would have a separate governing board made up of representatives from Quincy, George and Grant County.

“Then (the district) would have to go out and get a revenue bond as part of the funding of it,” Haley said. “And then the money that’s generated from the parks district will cover the debt service on that bond, and then also pay for operation of the facilities.”

Haley said the rough cost estimate for the fieldhouse is about $18-$20 million and about $8-$10 million for the pool.

“We have some money for both, really, as we’ve been setting that money aside over the years. But when we actually started doing the design work, we found out that we were well short of what is needed to build something like that,” Haley said. “And so the question is, do you borrow that money? Now you have a debt that you have to pay, and that restricts you from doing other things that you want to do.”

Quincy council members were presented with four options of various sizes for the facility and voted in November 2022 for the largest. The facility would be 143,000 square feet and would have enough room for two to four soccer fields, depending on the number of players, and could be configured for other sports and events. There also would be two basketball courts that could be configured for other sports.

The city swimming pool is aging, and part of it, the original pool called the lap pool, may not be open for the start of the summer season later this week. Recreation Director Russ Harrington said in an earlier interview that the lap pool drains will need to be updated to meet current standards.

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