Merry Christmas
Thursday, December 4, 2025
What’s inside
VOLUME 8 I ISSUE 24
City approves budget CHRISTIAN APOSTOLOVSKI STAFF WRITER
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Former men’s shelter exec reflects
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Kagan Kneen looks back at his time with the Lloydminster Men’s Shelter.
LCSD spotlights mental health Mental health takes the front seat at Holy Rosary High School.
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Raiders win fourth straight
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Holy Rosary earns provincial 3A title.
MERIDIANSOURCE.CA
It’s officially in the books. The City of Lloydminster has approved its 2026 budget after two meetings and much debate. Municipalities grapple with delivering a balanced budget every year. In 2026, the city approved an operating budget of $119.3 million and a capital budget of $29.9 million. The city is facing a mill rate of 4.08 per cent, which would see an impact of $9 a month or $108 annually, on a home valued at $350,000. It’s also proposing a five per cent utility increase with assessment growth of 3.5 per cent. The utility and mill rate increases will be passed later in 2026 through their respective bylaws. The first draft of the budget was presented on Nov. 5. Since then, new additions have been made. An intergovernmental advisor position was added, Border City Connects’ funding increased by $12,000 and various expenses related to city council decreased by $6,400. Changes were also made to proposed projects. The $30,000 city hall renovation that would add a meeting room in the front hall of the building, removing a currently vacant vestibule, is no longer being funded. Another project that lost its funding status was the $35,000 inflatable obstacle course at the Bioclean Aquatic Centre. A $300,000 44 St. ditch and roadway widening project was also added to the capital budget. The intergovernmental position is something administration sees as a big value to their operations. “A lot of the work we do through the mayor’s office and through my own office at this point, we rely on other departments to supplement advocacy work, with not only one province, but
two provinces, plus the federal government,” said city manager Dion Pollard. “It’s one of the areas we feel we could enhance the services to the city. It doesn’t always relate to money, could be issues that we have. We’ve seen that through our liquor issue, our sandwich-gate issue. This position would support some of that and take some of the work off those individual departments that currently do that.” Pollard clarified the starting position would be April 1, as presented in the budget. “In the budget, it shows a start date of April 1, so it’s only taking 75 per cent of the year,” he said. Comments and questions around the council table largely revolved around the proposed tax increase. Coun. David Lopez asked if any of the taxation is transferred to reserves. “In our operating budget, there is a portion of tax revenue that we put toward our reserves every single year with the intention of supporting our 10-year capital plan,” said Adele Wakaruk, executive manager of corporate services. “The reason why we put money into reserves is because it’s a substantial portion of how we fund our infrastructure year-over-year.” The city will be transferring $16.6 million into reserves in the 2026 budget. Lopez says a recent trip to the Alberta Municipalities convention left him wondering if the city could cut back on spending. “When we went to Alberta Municipalities, the finance minister kind of laid the hammer down on everyone and said, ‘I don’t know if you looked at the price of oil but it’s below $60. If you think this year’s going to be bad, be prepared. It’s going to be two years of tough times,’” he said. “It stuck to me and maybe we have to tighten our belt strings a little bit. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2
colleen.young@sasktel.net
306-825-5550
Colleen Young
MLA for Lloydminster Constituency