User fees set to increase as council looks for savings in 2026 budget

A five per cent increase is higher than inflation, pointed out Mayor Bill Powalinsky.

Only one city facility pays for itself in user fees, and that is the golf course. The remainder have an average of 50 per cent cost recovery.

Two facilities have ceased operations for the year – the Frank Dunn Pool and the Dave Steuart Arena.

Numbers for the Lake Country Co-op Leisure Centre won’t be fully known until it has had one year of operations, but for 2025, it brought in $1.4 million in user fees and is expected to bring in $2.3 million next year.

While the building costs $4.4 million to the city, that includes $2.3 million in long-term debt payments which do not come from taxation. They come from the recreation reserve.

According to the budget documents, when the savings from closing the Frank Dunn pool and not operating the Dave Steuart arena are calculated, the impact to next year’s budget is $524,000.

As part of the discussions, council also told staff to find another $50,000 in savings in the Parks and Recreation budget. At least $35,000 will come in reducing the amount of waived fees; staff will find the rest.

“What we really wanted to see happen is that the director and his technical experts…they’re the ones who are in the best position to determine how they’re going to arrive at that amount,” said Mayor Bill Powalinsky.

Finding savings has been the theme of this year’s budget. Powalinsky said staff were instructed to find as many savings as possible to reduce tax increases.

“Before we got to today’s consultations, departments were asked to bring in one of the tightest budgets they’ve ever done,” he said. “It was suggested five per cent or even better reductions in their budgets. Some departments have really looked hard and they’ve looked at different ways of doing business.”

The playground budget was cut by $50,000, which may mean the closure of one or two under-used playgrounds, and the road maintenance budget was also cut by $100,000.

Last year, Prince Albert’s taxpayers were hit with a double whammy of what Powalinsky called a ‘balancing year’ for the budget and an assessment year as regulated by the province.

Council also discussed the taxation appeal budget, which needed to be increased because of the number of appeals.

The city pays staff to record the appeals and write the decisions and has to register changes with ISC, the provincial contractor that maintains property records.

“You hear a lot of people say, ‘Well I wish the city would buy my house because it assessed for $400,000 and I can only sell it for $200,000,’” Powalinsky said.

Property values have shot up in Prince Albert, due in large part because they are selling for higher prices.

Assessment accounts for market prices but includes more than that in its final number.

Some properties have decreased as well.

“If there never was a mill rate increase, the increases in assessments would be offset by decreases. Certainly the increases are painful, but recognize that a lot of properties were devalued through that process as well,” Powalinsky said.

No changes were made to one of the city’s bigger departments, the fire service.

On Friday, council will discuss the area of community safety and wellbeing area, bylaw, and economic development. External agencies like the city police and library are also on the agenda.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com

by Susan McNeil

User fees set to increase as council looks for savings in 2026 budget

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