County launches into budget season

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

It’s budget season for Wheatland County and discussions regarding the interim operating, and capital budgets opened during the Nov. 25 Committee of the Whole meeting. 

The interim budget focuses on upcoming service and capital requirements and is scheduled to be approved by Dec. 16. This gives the necessary authority under the Municipal Government Act to spend in the new fiscal year. 

Final budgets are typically to be presented in late March or early April of the new year. The delay is intended to allow county administration to incorporate more accurate details, as well as to finish the previous year’s audit, and give council members more time to receive accurate inflationary projections. 

“That can help drive and inform council’s decisions on that final budget, and then finally in March, we have the assessment information ready,” said Joel Chiasson, manager of financial services.

“That is the base of the property taxes – we have the updated assessment values and then the tax rates are calculated on that assessment base. That is when we really get into the details of the specific tax revenue, the amount requested, (and) the split between the different classes.”

The currently drafted budget continues to prioritize significant infrastructure investments, including engineering and planning studies throughout the municipality.

A two per cent placeholder for a municipal tax increase was included in the draft to account for growth or inflation, however the actual tax rate decision will be reserved for implementation in the final budgets. 

Within Wheatland County, a one per cent tax increase equates to approximately $300,000 of additional annual revenue. 

As it was presented to the Committee of the Whole, the gross base interim budget is currently estimated at $56.4 million. 

Notable operational changes include the completion of the Goldfinch raw water line in 2026, implementation of the internal waste transfer roll off bins program, and decreased local area pension plan rates. 

As this is the first year of a new council term, council may make amendments in the final budget based on early 2026 strategic planning discussions, which will better cement their goals and priorities for the upcoming term.

“This year might be a little bit different because council will have their strategic planning where they will set their priorities and their specific goals for the upcoming four years, and that will likely drive some of the budget decisions that we or council makes in the final budget and corresponding tax strategy,” said Chiasson. “The plan is to do a community survey as well. Administration felt that would be a good thing to correspond with that final budget with the strategic planning as well; bring that to some of those findings with the final budget.”

Among the major priorities outlined in the interim budget, it is suggested for the county to commit to spending $50 million over the next five years, and $100 million over the next 10 to address its backlog of bridges which require repair or replacement. 

Committee members have been requested to send detailed inquiries and comments to administration by Dec. 5 in order to allow staff time to compile responses for the final interim budget approval.