The biggest project on tap for Quispamsis next year will cost about $8 million.
The question is who is going to pay for it.
Quispamsis council met on Oct. 16 to begin preliminary budget discussions for 2026.
Among the expenditures discussed was the Hampton Road Streetscape Program.
Town staff have recommended approving $7,992,000 for significant upgrades to one of Quispamsis’s main thoroughfares.
The project was announced earlier this year, with the town committing to a “comprehensive redesign of Hampton Road.”
The plans include upgrades to underground pipe infrastructure and improving the corridor for all road users.
When it was announced, the project was described as a major generational project for Quispamsis.
“This isn’t just a pipe upgrade and repaving project,” said a press release in July.
But there are concerns the cost of the project could fall solely on the municipality.
The town’s director of engineering and works said the worst-case scenario would be no additional funding from the provincial or federal governments.
“We’ve been turned down twice for half-funding,” said Gary Losier.
Losier said requirements and the application process are always changing.
“If you remember a few years back, the infrastructure program was heavily focused on climate change,” he told councillors. “All of a sudden, one year it shifted and it became housing.”
Losier said the project will warrant “aggressive” lobbying by council and on council’s behalf.
He said the project represents a generational type of decision.
“You can change the face of this area of the Hampton Road for a generation and beyond,” he said.
Qplex expansion to be re-examined
Another major topic of discussion was spending on the town’s recreation complex. But not in 2026.
Chief administrative officer Ian Watson said councillors may have noticed a previously planned $20-million expense in 2029 had been removed from the five-year plan.
The qplex in Quispamsis. Image: Facebook/Quispamsis qplex
Watson said that money was to be for adding a second ice surface at the Qplex, but staff was recommending deferral of that project.
“We have significant reservations that $20 million is actually enough to add an ice surface at the Qplex,” Watson said.
According to Watson, the original allocation may not be enough to deal with both adding a rink and the consequences to surrounding facilities.
“The intention is for us to invest a smaller amount in 2026 for the purpose of the design,” he said, adding it would give a better sense of what’s required and put the project on track for 2031 or 2032.
