Neepawa Town Council Unveils 2024 Financial Plan that Includes Tax Rates Below the Inflation Rate

The 2024 budget for the Town of Neepawa finally looks like business as usual again for the town, after years of significant restoration costs following the 2020 flood. Jamie Davie, Director of Finance for the Town of Neepawa, presented the financial plan at a public hearing and explained the way the assessment is done and taxes are calculated as well as reviewing grants to community organisations, 2024 capital purchases, and transfers to reserves.

"The Town of Neepawa's vision is to grow as a community of choice through enhanced organisational excellence while providing a safe community: being accountable and transparent: and engaging our residents and businesses to invest in our community,” says Davie. “The financial plan is the tool that Neepawa uses to achieve these goals."

The presentation also reviewed the significant projects completed in the past fiscal year, which included the new post-secondary training centre, a waterslide at the public pool, two viewing towers in parks at opposite ends of town, six new columbariums, and new pickleball/tennis courts as well as significant paving and patching. Street maintenance is also a significant budget item in the current year’s budget.

Because the town has removed the costs to complete the Park Lake remediation process, the total budget appears to be less than half of what it was last year. Those costs are still flowing through the town’s accounts, but they are covered 100% by the Disaster Financial Assistance program through the province and not through taxpayer money. The presence of the disaster remediation in the financial plan, especially now that the process is almost complete, was making it difficult to see how other finance items have changed year over year.

The proposed tax increase for 2024 is approximately 2%. Councillor Darryl Gerrard, Chair of the Finance Committee, says one of their goals was to stay under the national inflation rate. As of March 2024, which is the most recent data released by Statistics Canada, the national inflation rate is at 2.9%.