City council. (Susan McNeil/paNOW)

By Susan McNeil

Budget 2026

Council cuts $1.1 million in final budget decision

Nov 21, 2025 | 6:13 PM

An initial budget increase of $4.4 million was reduced by $1.1 million after three days of deliberations by Prince Albert city council.

To get there, councillors made some small changes and a few larger ones. The Prince Albert Police Service asked for an increase of $900,000 over what they were given last year. Instead, they were given an extra $723,000. How that impacts operations will be the decision of the Police Commission.

The police service’s official presentation was made before budget deliberations began, but Chief Patrick Nogier and Deputy Chief Farica Prince were on hand to answer questions, which came in abundance leading to around 2.5 hours of discussion before any decision was made on the increase.

Nogier told council that their budget is very tight as costs are rising, whether that’s because of increased wages or costs of supplies like vehicles, bulletproof vests or all of the other gear required.

“It’s getting close to being in the danger zone,” Nogier said of the money in the police fleet reserve. “In a year, we will be in one.”

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Like the city, the police commission has reserves, which is money set aside for specific purposes.

Every year, the service buys new vehicles and contributes money to their reserve from their general budget to buy more vehicles in the future. When the number of officers increases, the number of vehicles needs to grow as well. For every four new officers, they need to buy one more patrol unit and the police service will add eight more officers in 2026.

The province kicks in money annually, as does SGI, but it is generally tied to a specific purpose. SGI funding goes towards traffic officer salaries, for instance. The new officers require cars, guns, vests and radios, and the cost for those gets passed on to the city in their annual budget request.

Council made budget cuts to the Information Technology reserve, reducing the asked for $725,000 to $525,000. That will return in the form of a larger ask next year, said Kiley Bear, director of corporate services.

A major IT upgrade is planned in the next two years, and her department anticipates the cost to be around $2 million but will have more concrete figures by the time council is tasked with deciding the 2027 budget.

A budget ask of $1.5 million for taxation appeals was reduced to $1.3 million and other cuts were made in the first two days to reach $1.1 million.

READ MORE: Budget begins with $4.4 million increase

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Mayor Bill Powalinsky said the process was a difficult one, made more so by the fact that staff had reduced their budget requests by $2.2 million before it reached council for the public hearings.

“So therefore, to look at any reductions in the ask were, it was just so tight; it was so difficult to decide where we could maybe reduce the impact of the budget,” he said.

“The one thing they’ll notice is that the levy for the protective policing levy, that $35, will have disappeared,” said Powalinsky. “The budget increase is – I’m estimating here – less than half of what we asked for last year.”

Eliminating the police levy doesn’t mean the unit will be eliminated. It was set up to be a six-year levy and had reached the point where the police were thinking to have it changed to a building levy.

In addition to big ticket items like a new police station and up to two supplementary fire halls, the city is looking at having to upgrade its wastewater treatment system over the next decade.

The city’s budget schedule is as follows:

Nov 2025 – Budget Deliberations – The City’s Budget Committee reviews and finalizes the proposed 2026 budget.

Dec 2025 – Budget Approvals – Council approves the finalized 2026 budget.

Jan 2026 – Assessment Notices Issued – Residents can review their property assessment and, if necessary, appeal it. Your property taxes are based on your assessment. The 2026 Assessment Notices are only mailed out if your property’s assessed value has changed from the previous year. Note: You cannot appeal your taxes, only your assessment value.

March 2026 – Assessment Roll Closes – This is the final date to appeal your property assessment.

April 2026 – Council Approves Tax Tools – Council finalizes the tools and calculations to fund the budget with property taxes, accounting for assessment changes.

May 2026 – Property Tax Notices Issued – Residents receive their official 2026 property tax notices.

June 2026 – Property Taxes Due – Residents must pay their 2026 property taxes by this date.

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susan.mcneil@pattisonmedia.com