Innisfail’s budget talks kicked off on Friday and discussions about how the community’s dollars and cents will be spent for 2026 will continue tomorrow and on Wednesday.
Like many municipalities, Mayor Jean Barclay notes that Innisfail is facing a lot of financial pressures as they deal with aging recreation infrastructure that needs modernization. Mayor Barclay says “infrastructure projects such as water and wastewater, sidewalks and roads. You know, it is difficult to keep up to what needs to be done. So, it is always a balancing act, trying to find that sweet spot where you need to keep investing in the community but at the same time you need to be careful about the burden you place on taxpayers. So that I think will always be the challenge – certainly in the next several years.”
Mayor Barclay points out that right now the provincial government recreation funding is not eligible to municipalities. She says “so that was a resolution that we actually were the seconder on at Alberta Municipalities convention, so hoping that the province may consider changing that so municipalities can be eligible.”
She adds, recreation funding has been at the top of the list for the Town of Innisfail for a number of years now and their newly elected council spoke about it with Innisfail-Sylvan Lake MLA Devin Dreeshen – Alberta’s Minister of Transportation and Economic Corridors – earlier this month and he was very supportive and they are grateful for a good relationship with him.
