The Town of Newmarket is preparing to spend upwards of $74 million in capital projects next year, ranging from the ongoing Mulock Park project to new parks to sports facilities and station upgrades.
The municipality's 2025 draft capital budget includes more than $2 million to construct a pickleball facility at George Richardson Park, $500,000 for smaller sports pads and parkettes, and $650,000 for the redevelopment of Haskett Park, among other projects. Council reviewed the budget Oct. 21 as it builds toward approval Dec. 2.
Newmarket Mayor John Taylor said the town has many projects happening that are important to taxpayers.
“We’ve got a pretty robust capital plan, particularly in parks and recreation right now,” Taylor said. “We’re going to have an exciting couple of years seeing a lot of these projects completed and opened and I think it’s going to be really a monumental step forward for our community.”
Much of the capital budget is going to ongoing projects such as Mulock Park, with more than $22 million devoted to spending there in 2025. There is also more than $1.6 million toward parking additions in the downtown core around the former tennis centre site.
Newer projects include $200,000 devoted to adding wayfinding for parking around Main Street, $650,000 to develop Haskett Park with a trail connection to Davis Drive and $500,000 total for the construction of Clifford Perry Parkette and new sports pads for Proctor Park and Environmental Park.
The budget also includes at least $250,000 for a redesign of the municipal website and the introduction of a new mobile app with an integrated portal for services, bill payments and community engagement.
“I really hope that does move forward,” Councillor Kelly Broome said of that project. “We really need that push-pull information railway right now. So I’m really hoping that is going to be a huge improvement.”
Other spending includes more than $1.7 million for asset replacement, $2.2 million for stormwater management cleanout and more than $6.2 million for road work and water main replacement.
Water rates
Newmarket’s water rates are set to increase in 2025.
Based on long-term planning, the water rate is expected to increase by 3.5 per cent and the stormwater rate by 3.8 per cent. The water rate increase means an extra $49 dollars annually for homeowners assuming an annual consumption of 200 cubic metres, while the stormwater increase will be $7 annually for a 465 square metre lot.
You can view the full draft capital budget through the Newmarket council website.
