Neepawa unveils new budget
- Details
- Published on Wednesday, April 20, 2016
By Eoin Devereux
The Neepawa Banner/Neepawa Press
Spending in the 2016 budget for the Town of Neepawa is much more than it was last year. Fortunately for the average homeowner though, they won’t be asked to make up that much of the spending difference. The budget numbers were unveiled on Tuesday, Apr. 19 during a public hearing at the Town Office. For 2016, council has allocated $7,655,027.81 towards the general operating fund and $5,047,751.51 to the utility operating fund.
Those numbers are an increase of just under $937,000 for the operating budget and a little under $2 million for the utilities budget. Mayor Adrian de Groot said that extra money will be taken from the town’s reserves and shifted into the budget in order to cover some major capital projects.
“We have some large projects and we want to get them going, because they’ll have a significant impact on the future of the community, as far as growth is concerned,” said de Groot. “[Such as] reducing the stress on our sewer system, it has some long term benefits, so we really wanted to get those projects going.”
A large portion of the money shifted from the reserves will be used directly for the construction of the new fire hall ($1.3 million), the purchase of a new fire truck ($395,722) and computer upgrades and replacement ($15,000). De Groot stressed that although these are large numbers being moved out of the reserve funds, council did not want to deplete them to the point that they are no longer functional.
As for the direct impact to residential and commercial ratepayers, the tax impact will vary, depending on the assessed value of their property. For 2016, the municipal mill rate, which is used to calculate the property tax, will be 22.47 mills. That’s a decrease of 1.77 mills from 2015, or about seven per cent. Mayor de Groot said some property taxes will go up, while others will decrease. He noted that it will all depend on the individual assessments.
“It’s a complicated formula, because the mill rate is impacted by assessment. 2015 was a reassessment year, so whenever you get that, there is an adjustment,” said de Groot. “It’s not an across the board formula, based on how you were assessed in the previous year. It’s pretty detailed. So there will be a tax impact calculator placed on the Town’s website. Everyone should have already received a notice from the assessment branch as to what your 2016 assessment is. You can take that number and you put it into the calculator and it’ll show you [your tax rate] and then you take a look at last years tax statement and you should be able to see what next years is and if there is a comparison. Some may go down $400 [as an example], some may go up $400.”
As part of the budget allocations, $116,895.95 has been set aside for grants to organizations, including $85,000 to the Yellowhead Centre, $5,000 for the Viscount Cultural Centre, $4,500 for NACTV and $1,500 to the Bird Sanctuary.
Grant funding across the board decreased by $16,900 with some organizations that had received grants in the past, such as the Neepawa Natives junior ‘A’ hockey club and Neepawa Rifle Club, receiving nothing this year. De Groot said Council had to make some difficult decisions on this portion of the budget.
“This conversation started last year, as well. Taking a look at [the grant process]. There was more than a perception, it was a bit of a reality where the requests were basically ‘You ask, we give.’, in a sense. So, we started to change that last year and evaluating. Did we get it right? Time will tell,” noted de Groot. “What we were saying about supporting certain organizations, we have to take a look and say ‘Okay, is that something in other communities, the city or town operates that?’ Those things, we’ll be taking into consideration during the grant process. It’ll definitely have an impact on 2017.”
As for the 2016 budget, first reading for its passing was given on Tuesday, Apr. 19. Second and third reading will likely occur at the next council meeting currently scheduled for Tuesday, May. 3. Additional budget details and charts can be seen at the link attached below.
Expanded breakdown of financial plan
