Explore the 2025-2027 draft budget

Administration's draft budget is here!

Using your feedback, Administration developed a draft budget, which was presented to Council on October 21. Council has debated the budget and it will come forward for approval in December. Grounded in fiscal responsibility and community feedback, this year's 2025-2027 draft budget ensures the Town can continue delivering the quality services residents rely on while meeting the challenges of growth and inflation. Visit cochrane.ca/budget to learn more.

View the 2025-2027 draft budget.

View the budget info boards

Your input matters: what we heard from you

Each year we ask for your input on how to prioritize our municipal spending. This year we hired a third-party consultant to collect your feedback and make sure it was representative and statistically valid. Between April 4 to May 7, 407 of you shared your thoughts. Most respondents (54%) felt that they received good to excellent value for their property taxes and want to see service levels remain the same. Learn more about what we heard under the 'what we heard reports'.

Budget highlights: What it means for you

Administration is proposing a $13.22 average monthly increase based on a $615,500 average assessed value. The proposed revenue requirement increase of $2,307,900 is a 6.14% increase from 2024. Of that, 3.64% comes from growth, meaning this is an inflationary budget of 2.5%.

The budget also includes continued upgrades to Cochrane’s utilities, addressing aging infrastructure and supporting significant projects such as the Glenpatrick infrastructure upgrades and Horse Creek Sports Park.

The budget will focus on maintaining current service levels, with 16 new FTE staff:

• Strategic Services (2.0)
• Customer & Administrative Services (1.0)
• Financial Services (1.0)
• Human Resources (1.0)
• Parks & Open Spaces (5.6)
• FCSS (1.0)
• Planning (1.0)
• Safety Codes (1.0)
• Operations (1.0)
• Water & Wastewater (1.4)

How your feedback was used

Public input directly influenced the budget’s priorities, driving decisions on staffing and funding new projects. You said you wanted to maintain services in a fiscally responsible way. We are adding staff at a rate consistent with population growth, ensuring we maintain service levels and support front-line operations.