City concludes 2026 budget deliberations with scaled back tax requirement and focus on core services

Prince Albert’s 2026 budget deliberations ended Friday with a reduced tax requirement, steady service levels and several major captial needs still waiting in the wings. The budget heads to council for final approval in December. Prince Albert’s Budget Committee has wrapped up three days of 2026 budget deliberations. The budget, which began with an estimated $4.42 million tax-funded requirement, now sits at $3.3 million and will go to council for final approval on December 15. City Manager Sherry Person said administration entered this year’s process already having indentified more than $2.1 million in internal savings following a detailed spending review earlier in the fall. She said those adjustments helped reduce pressure on the 2026 plan at a time when households are still dealing with the effects of long-term inflation. “Our city faces very real challenges. We have aging infrastructure and other infrastructure that require maintenance, capital requirements for new fire and police stations and growing citizen expectations,” Person said in the City’s post-budget release. She said the City worked to minimize the impact on residents while still maintaining a stable foundation for future planning. Council focused much of its attention on balancing access, cost recovery and long-term asset needs. A proposal to double the planned recreation fee increase from five percent to 10 percent was rejected, with council choosing to keep the lower rate in place for 2026. Youth and senior discounts remain unchanged, and access continues to be free for children under six. Instead of raising fees across the board, the recreation department will look for a combined $50,000 through revenue changes and expenses reductions. In public works, council turned away a proposal to cut the annual roadways, paving and concrete program in half. The program will remain at roughly $4.4 million to preserve its connection to underground utility replacements and protect in-house staffing capacity. Administration warned that a large cut would risk delays, higher future repair costs and the potential loss of skilled paving crew. Council also revisited the Sixth Avenue Viaduct item on Friday and approved an amended funding split after a lengthy debate. Instead of drawing the full amount from taxation, council supported a motion to fund $250,000 from the roadways paving and concrete levy and the remaining $750,000 from taxation. Several councillors raised concerns about the impact on the paving program and the underground utility schedule, while others argued the viaduct damage could not be delayed. The vote carried, setting the full $1 million rehabilitation plan in motion for 2026. Mayor Bill Powalinsky said the toughest part of the deliberations was deciding where further reductions could be made after administration had already done extensive internal tightening. “It was just so tight, it was so difficult to decide where we could maybe reduce the impact of the budget,” he said. He added that council must still ensure residents receive the level of service they expect. For residents, the biggest immediate change will be the elimination of the $35 protective policing levy, which had previously been collected to support the protective policing unit. Powalinsky said the levy is no longer needed for that purpose after funds shifted into a reserve intended for future building needs. “The one thing they’ll notice is that the levy, for the protective policing levy, the $35 will have disappeared,” he said. He noted that this year’s overall budget increase is roughly half the size of last year’s. Any impacts on the policing unit will be evaluated by the Board of Police Commissioners. The mayor also pointed to two major building pressures already forming on the horizon: a future police headquarters and a new fire hall. Both will draw from a renamed protective services building reserve, previously used for the fire hall replacement fund. Long-term planning also includes a significant water plant upgrade expected within the next decade. Asked how the City will prioritize competing infrastructure demands, including the viaduct rehabilitation and the library roof replacement request expected to return in 2026, Powalinsky said a new asset management system will guide the sequencing. “We have to go for public safety first,” he said. “That Sixth Avenue viaduct, we definitely know that we need to be considering that as public issue number one.” The final step will be setting the 2026 tax tools in early spring, when council determines how the tax rate will fund the approved budget. Friday’s meeting also marked the final budget cycle for several longtime administrators, including City Manager Sherry Person, Director of Financial Services Ramona Fauchoux, and City Clerk Terry Mercier. Mayor Bill Powalinsky thanked staff and councillors for navigating a difficult process, noting that new members gained valuable experience over the three days. In the final minutes, council confirmed a total of $1.112 million in savings and voted to forward the 2026 budget to the Dec. 15 meeting for formal approval.