Canmore budget talks begin, municipal budget facing 5.6 per cent increase

CANMORE – Canmore’s budget is looking at a potential 5.6 per cent municipal tax increase for 2025.

Bbudget deliberations started Nov. 21, with $37.45 million needed for municipal taxes in 2025 and $40.2 million in 2026. In 2024, municipal taxes to be collected were $34.88 million.

A one per cent municipal tax increase this year is $349,000 in the budget.

The Town’s operating budget for 2025 is set at $95.4 million and projected to top triple figures with $101.8 million in 2026. Both years include $9 million in anticipated collection for the Town’s vacancy tax.

The budget presented to Canmore’s finance committee is a status quo one, meaning it’s meant to maintain services at existing levels.

“We ask people, what can you do with your current resources with the dollars you have and the people you have,” Sally Caudill, the Town’s CAO, said in her presentation to the committee.

A key theme throughout initial budget talks was the financial pressure municipalities are under, particularly with infrastructure.

Caudill noted local pressures are an increase in education tax requisition due to growth in assessed property values, the provincial government focused on growing tourism and specific tourism funding not existent and less funding is available from the province.

“There’s a lot of challenges around aging infrastructure across the province,” she said.

Caudill told committee Nov. 21 Town staff are adding more projects into the budget business plan – though some may be unfunded – with the intent to give advanced notice and potentially fund design aspects to better align with grants.

“Generally, any time we’re aware of a grant that we can apply to any infrastructure projects, or any project, we apply for it,” said Whitney Smithers, the Town’s general manager of infrastructure. “The challenge is we can’t put things in the capital budget on the assumption we’ll get the grant funding.

“When we put the capital budget together, we need to be able to point to a funding source with the assumption the grant won’t be there and we can come back and adjust if we get the grant, which is challenging because we have a lot of competing priorities for scarce dollars.”

Therese Rogers, the Town’s general manager of corporate services, noted grants are becoming less prevalent and some funding, such as those for transit, are winding down and may not exist in coming years.

Smithers added it will likely lead to difficult council decisions on setting priorities for services.

“I think you’ll see it on the operating side, and definitely on the capital side, that the discussion is now more about where is it OK to let service levels slide and where is it OK to accept more risk than we typically would have,” she said. “It’s not about here’s all the work we need to do and how we’re going to pay for it. We know we can’t pay for it all, so it’s about where can we let service levels slide and where can we accept more risk and you’ll see that when we get to those discussions.”

The 2025 budget has a new financial analyst, communications advisor and the continued phase-in of full-time firefighting staff. An HR recruitment assistant was set to be added in 2025, but already hired in 2024.

During the Nov. 21 finance committee meeting, Caudill noted the municipality has roughly 50 more employees since 2019 to support new services, while disability-related cases have doubled annually since 2020.

“High levels of inflation, rising costs, higher borrowing costs due to increased rates, and decreased funding from all levels of government have led to an increase in the Town’s budget required to provide the same services to the same levels as in previous years,” stated a report from Chelsey Gibbons, the Town’s manager of finance.

The property tax task force and update to the long-term financial strategy are key items that will take place in 2025.

An extra $5.8 million is needed in 2025 to fund Town tax-supported services, while $3.6 million will be needed in 2026.

“Except for the addition of the livability tax program expenditures, most of the increases to the budget are uncontrollable expenses due to inflation, pre-existing contracts and priorities, and growth-related expenses,” stated Gibbons’ report. “There are increases in repairs and maintenance, and growth-related new staffing additions, particularly in corporate services to keep pace with growth in other areas of the organization in recent years in response to corresponding community growth.”

Town staff presented a brief update to the budget in June at a committee of the whole meeting, indicating the plan was a status quo budget for maintaining service levels and accommodating growth.

“The status quo scenario includes additional staff and resources required to maintain existing programs and services at existing service levels and as previously identified and accepted by council as part of a budget plan,” stated Gibbons’ report. “It also includes the continued phase-in plan for increases to fire staffing.”

The amended 2024 budget required $77 million in revenue, with $34.88 million coming from municipal taxes and $30.72 million from sales and rentals. The top expenses were $26.59 million for salaries, wages and benefits; $19.99 million for contracted services and $10.95 million for transfer to reserves.

In 2025, the amended plan originally projected $81.59 million in needed revenue, with $37.78 million from municipal taxes. It had it increasing to $85.96 million for 2026, with $39.41 million required from municipal taxes.

“Part of this budget process will be how we want to manage some of these competing priorities and challenges in a longer-term way,” Caudill said.

Council is scheduled to approve the interim budget on Dec. 10. The formal council approval of the operating and capital budget is expected on Feb. 4, 2025.

Budget discussions are set to continue Dec. 5.

CORRECTION: The original story had finance committee adopting the 2025 plan on Dec. 10, but they are scheduled to hear the updated capital plan that day and council is scheduled to approve the interim budget as well as the 2025 utility rate bylaws and master fee schedule. The Outlook apologizes for the error.

KEY 2024 CAPITAL PROJECTS