County approves final capital, operating budgets for 2026

Wheatland County council has approved their finalized capital and operating budgets, choosing to not defer several large capital projects. 

Though the capital budget was approved unanimously, the operating budget was approved in a 4-3 split vote, ultimately settling on a 6.58 per cent overall municipal tax rate increase. 

Interim General Manager of Community and Development Services, Joel Chiasson, had previously pointed out to the Committee of the Whole, over the past several years, the county had opted to increase their utilization of their general surplus and reserves in order to offset rising inflationary pressures. 

Now comes the time for the new council to begin the process of rebuilding reserves and stabilizing the county’s finances. 

“One of the key things that we wanted to bring forward with this budget discussion, and there are two aspects of it, is that the final budget is closely linked to the tax rates and the municipal revenue that is required to fund the operating budget,” said Chiasson. “There is a direct tie to the decision that is made for that final budget and the revenues involved, and then the subsequent decision on the tax rate bylaw which is directly tied to that and uses the tax rates that are utilized in that.”

Of the options that had been presented to council by administration, a 6.58 per cent tax increase was indicated to be aggressive but was not the greatest increase that had been proposed. 

This increase serves the purpose to align with the municipal price index while adding a dedicated two per cent infrastructure notation, and an incremental step for non-residential tax rates. 

The idea being to address infrastructure deficits, while maintaining a desire for increasing rates to be more or less palatable for residents.

Wheatland County’s tax rates will effectively now be in alignment with several neighboring municipalities.

Potential capital project deferrals which were ultimately decided to proceed included but were not limited to items such as hamlet sidewalks and concrete maintenance, paving and a water main in Rosebud, multi-use pathways, and Carseland Waste Management fence replacement.

A continued point of contention which has been raised in several previous budget discussions regards the county’s need to repair and/or replace several bridges and bridge culverts within the region, with an anticipated cost of $181.5 million.

Regarding the county’s tax distribution in 2025, nine per cent of their revenue stemmed from farmland, 15 per cent was contributed from residential, and the remaining 76 per cent was accounted for by non-residential sources. 

There was an argument presented during the meeting for the deferral of $2.5 million in capital projects in order to lower the immediate tax impact, however in contrast, “kicking the can down the road” would put additional pressures on later years and not help to restore the county’s fiscal health.