The RM of Portage la Prairie's new budget's expected to come in significantly earlier than in previous years.

Reeve Kam Blight says, "January 24th we're hoping to be able to present our 2017 budget, which is earlier than in previous years. However, we have some more work to do on it. We're hopeful that we'll have it ready for the January 24th meeting. We really changed. We really sped it up this time."

He notes the 2016 financial report contains figures that are a little less as they hoped, and everything seems to be falling into place quite well. He adds they still have to study the final month of the year for that report.