Budget 2026 was announced last month by Alberta’s government and it was reviewed by Olds council during the March 9th regular meeting.
Olds Mayor Dan Daley points out it will also maintain current tax structures while providing no increases to core municipal funding. He adds, the provincial budgets haven’t been keeping up with the inflation index that has been going on, and that will put more strain on the Town’s financial situation than it has in the past. Mayor Daley says “the money that we get from the provincial government in the FCSS (Family and Community Support Services) and also in our LGFF (Local Government Fiscal Framework), which is our municipal funding envelope that we do get from the provincial government, will be pretty much status quo from last year.”
The province is also increasing the education property taxes that municipalities have to collect. In Olds, the jump up in that requisition is estimated to result in an increase of $152 to the education portion of the average homeowner’s tax bill.
Meanwhile as the U.S. conflict with Iran continues, the price of oil is rising again. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crested $100 dollars U.S. a barrel on Sunday evening, while last week Brent Crude closed above $100 U.S. a barrel for the first time in four years.
Just three weeks ago, Premier Danielle Smith noted ahead of the Alberta government’s Budget 2026 announcement that they had inherited a situation where balancing their budget was reliant on oil being valued at $100 dollars U.S. per barrel on the global markets. Olds Mayor Dan Daley hopes this can potentially allow Canadian crude oil prices to follow suit to the benefit of Alberta and our nation. He says “we’ve always gone through these lows and these highs when it comes to the price of oil and how that affects our provincial budget. Hopefully the price of oil will stay up and this will alleviate some of the pressure on the provincial government, which then would alleviate some of the pressure on the municipalities in the province as well.
Prior to the recent rise in oil prices, Alberta was forecasting a $9.4 billion dollar deficit in Budget 2026. According to the Natural Resources Minister’s office, it is anticipated that Canadian oil production is to increase by 140,000 barrels per day beginning in April.
