Budget 2026

The 2026 Budget is directly informed by resident input gathered through two major engagement initiatives:

2025 BUDGET ENGAGEMENT
(May – June 2024)

• Although the 2025 Budget Engagement was conducted to support development of the 2025 budget, feedback on service levels and value for taxes remains relevant for the 2026 budget planning.
• The data collected helps Council and Administration gain a clear understanding of community priorities related to service levels and spending.
• The online survey received strong participation—a 62% increase from the previous budget survey.

2025 Community Priorities Survey (March–April 2025)

• Conducted by an external consultant, this statistically valid survey gathered community feedback from residents on Town programs, services, and amenities, as well as targeted budget questions.
• The research summarized what we learned from residents and provided insights and recommendations to guide Council and Administration in future decision-making, planning, and resource allocation into 2026.
• The survey received 1,213 responses—a 72.6% increase over 2022—demonstrating strong public interest in shaping Okotoks’ future.
   

In May 2021, Council approved a four-year budget cycle to reduce the administrative costs of preparing annual budgets, improve resource allocation efficiencies, and focus deliberations on only the incremental changes requiring Council approval.

As the newly elected Council began its term in late 2025, this commitment to progress continues with a practical step forward. Rather than immediately launching into a new four-year budget cycle, Council approved a one-time, single-year budget for 2026. This approach creates a thoughtful transition period that bridges the previous financial plan to the next, maintaining stability today while preparing for the priorities of tomorrow.

The diagram below shows where we are in the annual check-in process: Step 7 - and how it relates to the four-year budget planning process.

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The Town’s budget is divided into Municipal and Utility categories, along with a One-Time Operating Projects category. Both the Municipal and Utility categories include operating and capital budget components.

One-time Operating Projects: a single, large-scale expense of more than $100,000 that does not create a long-term or capital asset and is not expected to happen every year. It lies between operating and
capital.

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Operating vs. Capital Projects

Operating and capital budgets each serve a distinct purpose but work together to meet community needs. Both focus on maintaining current service levels for existing programs and services that residents rely on, while also providing the resources needed to support new initiatives.

Operating Budget: provides resources for the ongoing day-to-day costs of delivering municipal services to residents:

• Sets the revenue and spending levels for all municipal services and programs.
• Covers items such as staff salaries, utility costs to run facilities, funding for community events, family support programs, and maintenance repairs to essential infrastructure.

Capital Budget: deals with costs to develop new infrastructure and amenities and invest in long-term fixed assets required for daily service delivery:

• Prioritizes maintenance of current infrastructure through rehabilitation and replacements, such as new water pipeline, rehabilitation of roads, replacement of equipment, new facilities and technology, land and vehicles.

At the end of the day, residents want to understand how the budget affects them, especially during a time when affordability remains a concern for many households. Let’s compare the tax bill of the average single-family home in 2025 and 2026. 

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Property Tax Estimator

The Town's property tax estimator provides a simple breakdown of how a property owner’s municipal taxes are invested into specific services Okotokians value and use every day, such as fire, RCMP, recreation facilities, roads, parks, transit and more. Give it a try!

Try out the Property Tax Estimator

The Town continues to keep the overall financial impact on residents front of mind, considering all sources of revenue including property taxes and utilities like water, sewer, storm, and waste services.

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The graph below shows how the budget dollars are allocated across essential services, highlighting value behind every dollar spent. 

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At the Annual Budget Meeting on November 19, 2024, Council accepted amendments to the 2025 year of the Town’s approved 5-year (2022–2026) budget, ultimately delivering a total Operating Budget of $80.386 million for 2025, which focuses on relevance and doing what we heard was important to Okotoks’ residents and businesses.

The result of this budget amendment is that the 2025 property tax increase will be lower than originally forecasted. Additionally, with a decrease in utility rates, the average single-family homeowner in Okotoks (with a home assessment value of $663,000) will see a total increase of only $1.99 per month or $23.88 per year. 

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Budget Highlights:

Property Tax Rate

The average single-family homeowner in Okotoks (assessment value of $663,000) will see an increase of $11.21 per month or $134.48 annually in property taxes. This represents a 4.8% increase for 2025, which is lower than the previously approved 5%.

Utility Savings

The 2025 budget amendment includes utility fee reductions of 6.75%. On average, this translates to an anticipated savings of $18.44 on bi-monthly bills, or an annual savings of $110.64 for the average household. These utility changes include:

• Curbside recycling will be funded by Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) as of May 1, 2025.
• In May 2025, waste collection will transition to every other week garbage pickup with standardization of 240L garbage carts. 

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2025 Utility Rate Changes from 2024 to 2025. * As of May 1, 2025, the waste rate will include garbage, organics and Eco Centre only, as recycling will be funded by EPR (extended producer responsibility)to residents from this point forward.

Fee Reductions

Several licensing fees were reviewed for relevance and are being streamlined:

• Discontinuation of dog licensing fees (except for adoption and fancier licenses)- learn more on the animal safety and responsible pet ownership page.
• Discontinuation of urban hen licensing and a move to a one-time application fee.
• A new flat-rate business license fee of $160 to encourage local business growth.

Read the 2025 budget news release

Review the Draft 2025 Budget

Council approved service level adjustments for year three and four of the 2022-2025 Budget that results in an Operating Budget of $76.708 million (2024) and $80.480 million (2025) respectively. These adjustments balance affordability with meaningful investments in strategic areas, such as community safety, emergency response and transit services.  Council approved a 4.6% property tax rate increase for 2024. The average household in Okotoks assessed at $551,000 will see an increase of $10.27 per month in property tax, this is an increase of $123.24 annually.  

Considerable investment was made in Okotoks Fire & Rescue to fund four firefighters to meet committed service response times and to respond to an increasing volume of medical calls. The budget also invested $694,000 in RCMP over the next two years; and $500,000 over the next two years to increase transit services. In addition to the four firefighters, 10 additional staff positions were approved to prepare for growth and delivery of core services and meet gaps in service levels.  

Council expressed the intention for an increase to franchise fees for natural gas customers pending Alberta Utilities Commission’s approval. It is an opportunity to increase revenue more equitably, as nearly all customers use utilities, but not all customers pay property taxes. With this change, the average utility customer could see an increase of about $6.82 per month or $81.81 per year.

Read the release       Watch the Budget Meeting

November 23, 2022 Regular Council Meeting

The 2023-2025 budget presented by Administration on November 23 was approved by Council. The second year of the four-year budget (2022-2025) is positioned to address inflation and economic pressures, maintain the high-quality of municipal services, while advancing health and safety in Okotoks. Administration worked to align funding requests with strategic and operational priorities to allow for continued service delivery for the community and the advancement of Council’s priorities. In doing so, a tax rate of 4.5% was reached; this means residents will see an increase of $9.38 per month or $112.56 per year.

Read the Budget Story: Understanding your municipal taxes

Find easy-to-understand budget highlights and changes that help show where the money is being allocated. Additionally, find out what a typical homeowner’s taxes per year are and how much goes to support specific services like fire, RCMP, recreation facilities, roads, parks, transit and more. It's all broken down in an easy-to-read ‘receipt’ that provides a snapshot of the Town’s programs and services you get for your tax dollars:

Budget Story  - 2023 Update

The $66M operating budget represents an overall 2.5% increase in the property tax amount, with the average homeowner in Okotoks paying an approximate $58.95 increase per year or $4.91 a month in municipal taxes.

Read the Budget Story: Understanding your municipal taxes

Find easy-to-understand budget highlights and changes that help show where the money is being allocated. Additionally, find out what a typical homeowner’s taxes per year are and how much goes to support specific services like fire, RCMP, recreation facilities, roads, parks, transit and more. It's all broken down in an easy-to-read ‘receipt’ that provides a snapshot of the Town’s programs and services you get for your tax dollars:

Budget Story