A difficult road ahead for Neepawa’s budget

Tough decisions made related to road repair spending

By Eoin Devereux Neepawa Banner & Press

When it comes to deciding what the priorities should be in budget spending, municipal leaders face some difficult choices each and every year. It’s a fine balance between spending what’s needed for maintenance/repairs and being able to actually afford it without passing an excessive tax increase down to the local ratepayer.

For Neepawa, that delicate balancing act in this year’s budget can be seen in our roads. The winter has been a rough one on many streets, as potholes and ruts are something many in the community are talking about. In the recently released financial plan, road construction (maintenance & new construction) has been cited as one of the “Planned development & purchase priorities for 2023.”

Neepawa’s general operating fund this year will be $19.2 million, a $2.3 million increase from 2022. The largest single bump in spending will be seen in Transportation Services, as it is growing from $6.1 million to $11.2 million. The reason for this nearly 84 per cent increase is partially related to roads upgrades and installation, primarily on the land surrounding the town’s new Health Centre.

Mayor Brian Hedley said there will have to be a heavy emphasis on the new roads, as opposed to the existing ones.

“There’ll be a few improvements in town [on existing streets]. But, unfortunately for the next few years, it’s not going to be as much as we’ve had in the past. We have over $6 million between ourselves and our partners to come up with for the hospital. So it’s not as fun budgeting when you have such a large amount of money to put away.”

Hedley added that he has heard from many citizens on the repair of existing roads. He noted that for many of these streets, it’s not just as simple as a basic resurfacing.

“The problem is, that you can go and just resurface a road, no problem. But, we’re trying to improve water and sewer underneath, as we go. All we’d be doing is digging up a newly paved street, so the process is to try to do the streets, do water and sewer [as one]. But, at $400,000 per block, there just isn’t enough money to go around for everything,” Hedley stated. “I know that there’s concern from the community. It can be done, but that means raising taxes a lot more and not everybody can handle that in this day and age.”

McPHAIL TRAVEL

Wednesday, May 3, 2023

Carberry Drop -In Centre 132 Main Street at 4:30 p.m.

Let us help you plan your next Cruise, Sun, Escorted, Exclusive Holiday Free Admission • Refreshments • Door Prizes

Our Exciting lineup for 2023 & 2024 includes: Australia & New Zealand, River, Alaska & European cruises, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, New York, & New Orleans & Nashville Getaways, Long Stay Spain & Portugal & MORE.

To register email at info@travelmcphail.com or call 204-834-2114 or 1-800-442-0611