Learn the Budget Basics

Council approves an operating and capital budget each December. The budget determines the level of services provided to residents and businesses, and guides decisions about infrastructure improvements. The final budget determines the proposed tax rates.

Council approves the tax rate bylaw in late spring, once assessment is finalized and the provincial requisition amounts for education and senior’s housing are known. At this time, an adjusted tax rate may be proposed.

An operating budget plans for the costs of the day-to-day activities you rely on, such as fire services, snow removal, utilities, community services and agricultural programs. These services are mostly funded through tax dollars.

The operating budget also includes provincial requisitions collected on behalf of the Government of Alberta.

The operating budget is approved each year.

A capital budget plans for major fixed assets, like vehicles, buildings, bridges and roads. The County has a three-year capital budget, so it can better plan for these larger expenses.

Sturgeon County passed its first multi-year capital budget for 2023 to 2025. The multi-year capital budget is reviewed annually. For 2024 and 2025, the capital budget was amended to include several key priority projects for the community. View budget highlights.

Taxes fund municipal services, like road maintenance, utilities, fire services, recreation, snow removal, and more. The final budget outlines the tax dollars needed to fund these services, and this amount is used to set the tax rate.

To determine how much money is collected from each property owner, the County relies on property assessment. Property assessment assigns a dollar value to each property.

Once the tax rate and assessed property value is set, we can calculate your taxes using the following formula:

Assessed property value X current tax rate = taxes due

It’s important to note that your tax bill includes funds the County must collect on behalf of the provincial government. These provincial requisitions account for roughly 40 per cent of your property tax bill.

Sturgeon County must collect provincial requisitions on behalf of the Government of Alberta. These funds support the provincial education system, rural policing services, and the Heartland Housing Foundation which provides seniors support services.

The provincial government determines the amount of money that needs to be collected. Requisitions typically make up roughly 40 per cent of your property tax bill.