Olds council approved the Operating and Capital budgets for 2026 at this week’s meeting.
Mayor Dan Daley points out that this budget is about renewing infrastructure, investing back into our community, public safety, planning for the long-term, and making that sure Olds is successful going forward into the future.
The Town’s infrastructure renewal program has been going on for a couple years now. He says “we also added a million dollars to address the water loss, and inflow and infiltration which continues to contribute to those water issues that we’ve had. This is supported by our replacement of our water meters program as well, because these meters are helping us find these water leaks as well.” Daley mentions that these water leaks in underground utilities, and the infiltration of water into the domestic sewer system have become a very high priority for this council to move forward on. There is also $800,000 in the 2026 budget earmarked for rehabilitation of the stretch of sewer line between Shannon Drive and Highway 27, according to Daley.
Recreation funding will see $557,000 to be invested into the Sportsplex in the next year including a full replacement and upgrade of the main power distribution centre. Daley highlights the fact that the facility is reaching 45 years old and it is starting to require a lot of attention as far as maintenance and upkeep to keep it operational.
A new administrative public service employee for the Olds RCMP Detachment has been approved in order to help take the load off of the officers in regards to the administrative work that they are presently doing. Daley notes doing that work takes the officers out of the seat of the patrol car and “we want them to be doing what they are supposed to be doing, and not completing paperwork in the office, so that was part and parcel of increasing our safety of our community.”
The 2026 Operating budget is just over $37.3 million and the 2026 Capital budget is more than $2.8 million. Daley says “Town council are also ratepayers and we are also users of the utility systems and so forth as well. We understand there are a lot of pressures on the citizens of Olds and there is a lot of people asking for money from different avenues as well.” He adds, that all of those things will come into play when council does its tax rate adjustment in the spring. Daley says “once we know for sure what those (requisition) amounts are going to be, then us as councillors will sit down and figure out a fair and equitable tax rate for our citizens and make sure that we continue on with the level of service that is expected of our citizens to the Town as well.”
At the December 8th meeting, Town of Olds council also gave the green light to the 2027 to 2029 Financial Plan and the 2027 to 2031 5-year Capital Plan. Daley says “this planning cycle is something very important in that we know what is going to be coming down the pipe, we know what we need to plan for and so that this isn’t going to be a big surprise to us coming up next budget year when we start looking at this again, realizing that there are those things that dropped off the list as well as additional things that are coming on. So this is all part and parcel with the big planning picture that we need to do more comprehensively than we have done in the past.”
