Quispamsis Reports $250K Surplus As Of June

Quispamsis ended the first half of the year with a surplus of nearly $250,000, but staff say it is too early to predict if it will continue.

Unaudited financial statements presented to council Tuesday night show a surplus of $247,787 in the general fund as of the end of June. That is an increase of more than $109,000 compared to the end of May when the surplus stood at $138,657.

But Krista Brandon, the town’s treasurer, said there are many factors which could change those numbers over the coming months.

“There are still a lot of things that are happening,” said Brandon. “We’re going to see continued costs related to COVID and the cleaning and everything that goes with that.”

The town has spent $51,000 on direct COVID-19 expenses to date and staff expect that number will grow as the year goes on.

Brandon said revenue will also remain below budget as the town is only “slightly opening up” its recreation facilities.

Several facilities were closed in March due to the pandemic, including the qplex and the Quispamsis Memorial Arena (QMA).

The qplex will begin to gradually reopen Sept. 21 and staff hope to open the QMA as early as mid-December.

“We have been really watching what we’ve been spending,” said Brandon. “We’ve put a hold on any of the hiring that we had in the budget. We have been, I would say very frugal and very cost-effective in how we have been using our resources.”

“We run a lot of these facilities at deficits, so if we did not do some of the changes that were implemented when COVID started, we would potentially be in a significant deficit by the end of the year.”

According to a staff report, revenue was down by $200,127 during the first six months of 2020, mainly due to the closure of the qplex, the QMA and other facilities. It was partially offset by building permit revenue, which was $18,000 higher than expected.

Expenses were also under budget by $447,914 due to reductions in staffing, travel, training, programming, fuel and electricity.

But as facilities like the qplex and the QMA reopen over the coming weeks, staff expect costs will “significantly increase”.

“The fall will tell and we are watching things very closely,” said Brandon.

Dana Purton Dickson, director of community services, told council in July that they have received a great deal of interest from user groups and believe they can book the ice at the qplex to 100 per cent capacity.