INNISFAIL – Be prepared Innisfailians.
As of Jan. 1, modest town service hikes will have arrived.
A property tax hike is expected to come later in April.
There are immediate fee changes for utilities and local essential services.
The 2025 municipal budget was passed by town council on Dec. 9, along with the amended Rates & Fees Bylaw, which includes updated fees structures for essential municipal services, such as utilities, fire services, recreation facilities, Innisfail Cemetery and the Innisfail Library/Learning Centre.
As of Jan. 1 local cemetery fees will be going up by two per cent this year.
There are also updates to the fire services fee schedule.
“I think the only big thing that came out of the change to the fire bylaw is the addition of charging for fire calls,” said Erica Vickers, the town’s director of corporate services. “So, if someone did have a fire on their property they would now get an invoice from the fire department based on the work they've done at your property.”
Vickers’ report to council on Dec. 9 said the updated Fire Services Bylaw incorporates a revised fee structures to reflect costs for fire suppression, rescue operations, and hazardous material response.
“These changes ensure equitable cost recovery and encourage compliance by addressing repeat false alarms and other chargeable incidents,” said Vickers, adding changes came into effect on Dec. 9.
As of Jan. 1 the town is bringing in modest increases on user-based utility rates, reflecting hikes from the regional water and wastewater systems.
Water rates will increase this year from $3.01 to $3.26 per cubic metre. This increase is in part due to an $.15 increase in the rate charged to the town by the Mountain View Regional Water Commission.
Wastewater (sewer) rates will increase from $4.00 per cubic metre to $4.31 per cubic metre. This $.31 increase partially reflects a $0.12 increase in rates charged by the South Red Deer Regional Wastewater Commission.
These changes will result in an average monthly increase of $5.60 on water bills.
All flat charges will remain the same.
Property owners will see their last 2024 utility bill in early January and their first in 2025 with the new rates by the end of January.
All property owners will see modest one per cent increases to both ATCO Gas and FortisAlberta franchise fees.
The ATCO Gas hike is 50 cents per month, while FortisAlberta users are facing monthly hikes of about $1.26.
Innisfail’s residential and non-residential property owners will now see a 2025 tax rate increase of 2.82 per cent, which won’t be noticed by property owners until late April after council has approved all three readings of the 2025 Property Tax Bylaw.
When all these modest utility and franchise fee hikes, along with the council-approved 2025 tax rate increase of 2.82 per cent, are added up an Innisfail property owner whose property is assessed at $400,000 will see a monthly increase on total home bills of about $30.68.
The best news for Innisfailians is that there are no planned increases fees in 2025 for the use of town owed and/or operated recreational services, such as for the use of the Innisfail Twin Arena, Innisfail tennis courts and the Innisfail Aquatic Centre.
Vickers said the only rates adjusted in 2025 for the town’s recreation, parks and culture services are ones for the Innisfail Library/Learning Centre, and they focused on addressing “inconsistencies and ensuring logical alignment” between hourly and daily rates.
“By correcting discrepancies in the relationship between these rates, the changes promote a more equitable and transparent pricing structure,” said Vickers. “The adjustments also eliminate ambiguities, making it easier for users to understand and compare costs.”
Vickers said all rates under the recreation side will stay the same, at least for now at the aquatic centre.
“Due to the fact that the aquatic centre is having a major renovation and likely will be closing next year we did not look to increase any rates for the pool now,” said Vickers. “We'll take that review when the pool is ready to reopen.”
By mid- to late-January the town will be releasing final year-end statistics for 2024, including the number of building permits and business licences.
However, the town did release its most up to date figures.
From Jan. 1 to mid-December of 2024 the town processed 140 total building permits, compared to 99 over the same period in 2023.
For business licences in that same period for 2023 the town had a total of 422, including 110 new ones and 147 coming from out of town.
From Jan. 1 to mid-December in 2024, the town processed a total of 485 business licences, including 128 new ones and 192 from out of town.
