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Friday, April 24, 2026
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neepawa
Banner & Press Locally owned and operated
A small hike for some big plans
Neepawa Town Council reveals its’ 2026 budget By Eoin Devereux Neepawa Banner & Press A municipal property tax increase just a little bit bigger than the current rate of inflation has been proposed in Neepawa’s new budget. On Monday, Apr. 20, Town Council reviewed the details for its 2026 financial plan. Year-overyear, our community’s mill rate will increase by 2.59 per cent.
2025 mill rate - 22.86 2026 mill rate - 23.456 A mill rate is the amount of tax payable per dollar of the assessed value of a property, representing one-thousandth of a dollar ($1 for every $1,000 of assessed value). Municipalities set this rate to generate revenue for services, calculated by dividing budgetary requirements by the total assessed property base. What that actually means for the average homeowner, is that we will pay an additional $57.03 in taxes per $200,000 of our assessed property value. Commercial properties will see a bigger bump, as they will increase by $648.07 per $500,000 of assessed value. Continued on Page 7
Vol.130 No. 34
PERFORMANCE ISN’T AN UPGRADE – IT’S THE STANDARD
NEW P1541SL
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Inside this week
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Pages 9-10: Wind Turbine Open House
2025 a ‘very busy, sometimes challenging year’ Neepawa-Gladstone Co-op annual meeting report
By Casper Wehrhahn Neepawa Banner & Press The year 2025 was a complicated one for the Federated Co-op (FCL), both on a local and national scale. This reality was reflected in both the board of directors’ report by Jason Sumner, and the general manager’s report by Brian Hedley at the Neepawa-Gladstone Co-op’s annual general meeting on Apr. 15. Each department of the Neepawa-Gladstone Co-op had good sales, while margins and expenses varied. “When you do business in a global economy, factors around the world affect us right here at home,” said Hedley. These factors have included “significant political and economic concerns”, trade tariffs, cybersecurity attacks, fuel shortages, and more. These challenges have also had an impact on the new Gladstone store. Hedley explained that FCL was work-
PHOTO BY CASPER WEHRHAHN
The Neepawa-Gladstone Co-op reviewed the region’s 2025-2026 season recently. The retrospective included all sectors of the Co-op, from grocery and fuel to HR work.
ing on a second version of the plans, which was a smaller model for the food/gas bar that measured 12,000 sq ft. “[The cost] came in at $13 million, which was more than the Co-op can afford and
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would not pass the feasibility,” said Hedley. “For reference, the 22,000 sq ft Food Store in Neepawa was completed for a cost of $6 million.” A third version of the new Gladstone store is in the works,
measuring at 7,000 sq ft, which will be added to the existing Gladstone Gas Bar. The projected cost is $6.18 million, and an additional $2 million to renovate the Gas Bar. Continued on Page 8