Council Committee hears 2027 Operating Budget update

Service level changes, external decisions from other levels of government, inflationary increases, and funding allocation to community groups will all be top of mind for City Council as they head toward approving a 2027 Operating Budget.

Darrell Mathews, Chief Financial Officer & Treasurer, presented a 2027 Operating Budget Update to City Council’s Community Issues Committee (CIC) meeting on Thursday to assist with the upcoming deliberations. Mathews provided a general overview, as well as further detailed components outlining the challenges ahead involving:

• State of Affairs & Economic Update
• 2027 Operating Budget Pressures
• 2027 Operating Budget Action

On June 10-11, Council members will meet as CIC to deliberate the 2027 Operating Budget. They will send a referral and recommendations to City Council for approval in July.

“City Council knows we have a lot of important decisions ahead of us to address a number of budget pressures moving forward,” says Mayor Blaine Hyggen. “Today’s update provided solid information to assist with future financial decisions to continue to meet the needs of our growing community.”

The City of Lethbridge’s Operating Budget includes ongoing operating costs for services or programs such as police, fire, electric, parks operations, public transit, water and wastewater, road maintenance, snow removal, libraries, arenas and swimming pools. 

“These budget pressures could put an upward burden on property taxes at a time when residents are businesses are also dealing with a high cost of living,” says Mathews. “When there is a pressure on the City‘s Operating Budget, then City Council has two choices: raise more money, usually by raising municipal property taxes or fees; or spend less money, which might mean cutting services for the community. This is a difficult choice that City Council faces when setting the budget and property tax rates.”

The City of Lethbridge practices multi-year budgeting. The current four-year 2023-2026 Operating Budget was approved at the end of 2022. In May 2024, City Council approved changes to the Capital and Operating Budget process by staggering the two budget deliberations by one year. Due to this process change, the 2023-2026 Operating Budget will need to be extended by one more year to include a “stub year” for 2027. 

The 2027-2030 Capital Improvement Program (CIP) budget deliberations and approval will take place at the end of 2026. The next full four-year Operating Budget deliberations, for 2028-2031, are anticipated to take place in late 2027.