Lloydminster homeowners are set to see a lower municipal tax rate in 2026 – the first decrease in recent memory – as strong assessment growth offsets rising city costs.
The city’s revised 2026 operating budget, approved by council Monday, keeps the municipal taxation levy unchanged from November at $53,749,879. But because the city’s assessment base grew by 9.07 per cent, the rate needed to collect that levy drops by approximately 1.22 per cent.
The shift is a significant reversal for Lloydminster homeowners. In November, council projected a 4.08 per cent municipal tax increase – roughly $95 more annually on a home assessed at $300,000. That increase is no longer materializing. Assessment growth has absorbed the levy, pushing the rate in the opposite direction.
Whether individual homeowners pay less depends on what happened to their own property assessment. Residents whose assessment grew faster than the citywide average will still see a higher bill. Those whose assessments stayed flat or declined could see modest savings. The mill rate bylaw, which locks in the exact figure, received first reading Monday and will return to council for final approval in the coming weeks.
In November, Lloydminster council approved a 4.08 per cent levy increase – adding roughly $95 annually to the bill for a home assessed at $300,000. The revised rate direction signals that growth in the tax base, not new tax pressure, is doing the heavy lifting in 2026.
The impact of snow on the Lloydminster budget
The revised budget also addresses a significant mid-year hit to city finances. An exceptionally heavy winter exhausted the entire 2026 snow removal budget before the end of March, triggering a $540,000 draw from the city’s resiliency reserve.
“Mother Nature clearly does not respect our municipal fiscal calendar,” said Coun. Michele Charles-Gustafson.
City of Lloydminster finance director Ryan Hill confirmed the draw covers $500,000 in residential snow removal contracts and $40,000 in snow dump maintenance. Critically, it carries no tax implications for 2026.
“It’s coming out of the Resiliency Reserve, which is set aside predominantly for these emergent items,” Hill said. “It doesn’t affect the tax rate in 2026.”
The reserve will drop from just over $2.5 million to just over $2 million following the draw, replenished annually from year-end surplus.
The brutal winter also left its mark on city roads. Coun. Jason Whiting noted the pothole situation was “probably the worst I’ve seen in many years on council.” Public works director Don Stang said crews are actively working through the backlog, with more permanent repairs on the way once conditions allow.
“We understand the impact of the freeze thaw, probably one of the worst I’ve seen in a long time,” Stang said. “We’re out there doing our best to fill as many as we can.”
Mayor Gerald Aalbers confirmed the city is currently using cold patch, with hot mix available once the local ASL asphalt plant comes back online for the season.
Lloydminster Councillors also approved a $4.6-million borrowing bylaw for a new landfill operations building, scalehouse, and entrance off 40th Avenue – a project that adds 2.5 per cent to the city’s total debt load. Outstanding municipal debt now sits at $91.2 million, or 49.5 per cent of the city’s legislated limit.
The 2026 capital budget stands at $66 million.
Read more: Lloydminster finances shift negative as major projects change bottom line
