Recreation Boards in our region are currently receiving applications for funding in 2027. While some recreation boards may still receive applications into August, please submit applications to your local recreation board by August 1st (or ASAP). Once applications are received, each board must have a meeting to review the applications from their district, propose a budget for 2027, and then submit everything to Vulcan County by October 31st. This timeline is predictable year-over-year for applicants, gives enough time for recreation boards to meet, and allows municipal administration and councils enough time to review recreation budgets prior to the end of the year. Division 6 has three recreation districts: Champion, Milo, and Vulcan. The County is working with its municipal partners to ensure fair and transparent sharing of costs as we go forward.
At the June 3rd Regular Meeting of Council, the Privacy Management Program of Vulcan County was brought forward for decision. This program is mandatory under new provincial legislation regarding access to information and protection of privacy. All public bodies in Alberta must have one and privacy impact assessments are required prior to disclosure of information.
On June 10th, 2026, a Public Hearing was held in the Champion Community Hall to receive information on a proposed Land Use Bylaw Amendment (Bylaw 2026-007). This bylaw proposed redesignating approximately 865 acres from Rural General to Rural Industrial, being located northeast of Travers Reservoir and on the north side of HWY 529. The hearing was well attended with overflow seating being used in the lower level of the hall, a facility that has enough seating for 400 people. At the hearing, apart from the applicant for the redesignation, the manager for the Bow River Irrigation District spoke about the impacts on the irrigation system of the proposed project. Over the course of the hearing, excluding those two speakers, twenty-six people spoke in opposition while two spoke in favour.
(The following was delivered during the discussion of Bylaw 2026-007 at the Regular Meeting of Vulcan County Council on June 17, 2026.)
If this rezone proceeds, it will be the largest single contiguous tract of land designated as Rural Industrial in Vulcan County. This is a substantial re-consideration of our zoning that will be precedent setting for Vulcan County as a whole and for this specific area. As we learned from our Public Hearing on June 10th, an overwhelming majority of participants in the Public Hearing are opposed. While there may well be others out there who are favourable to the proposed redesignation, their silence suggests indifference or lack of vested interest. That is not the case for a significant number of residents and property owners from Little Bow Resort who have been contributing ratepayers of Vulcan County for many years. They rightly point out that our own bylaws require us to ensure that the impacts of any re-zoning and development permit applications that could negatively harm them are mitigated. Given the scale of the proposed redesignation, these impacts are not sufficiently understood to warrant redesignation.
Tax notices have gone out and are due at the end of July. Please contact the County Office if you have not received notices that you are expecting, or should you have questions about your property assessment that need to be brought to the attention of the County’s assessor.
If you are interested in deep diving on County financial information, our Corporate Services team does an excellent job preparing award winning reports that are available on the website: https://www.vulcancounty.ab.ca/ (As mentioned previously, Vulcan County has been recognized by the Government Finance Officers Association International for the quality of its reporting.). Select the second button from the left, “Financial Reporting”, at the bottom of the Home Page. That will take you to three interactive dashboards: Financial Reporting, Performance Measures, and 2025 Annual Financial. Scrolling down the same page, you will come to the 2026 budget for operations and capital expenditures. There is historical information, as well as insight into the budgeting process. Please reach out if you have any questions.
There were two meetings of Council in April and one meeting of the Budget Committee. Between regular council business and a public hearing for a land use bylaw rezoning application, April 1st ended up being a lengthy day. Council undertook some administrative updates to the Linear Tax Stability bylaw, as well as providing a letter of support for the Marquis Foundation seniors housing project. While the former provides predictable levels of taxation for large linear assets, the latter is necessary for funding agreements with the Province of Alberta and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to move towards construction of a new seniors lodge. Also at this meeting, Council adopted a Shotgun Policy to enable Community Peace Officers to have a humane way to dispatch animals should it not be possible to get a wildlife officer on scene when needed. Council chose not to extend this authority to agricultural fieldman at this time.
I have received inquiries regarding the proposed Data Processing Operation rezoning application. A Public Hearing is scheduled for April 1, 2026, and notice has been circulated.
The following is the published agenda package. Any updates or changes can be found directly on the Vulcan County website, here.
One question I received concerns the impact of the proposed development on Vulcan County tax revenue.
Looking at the 2025 Tax Rates for General Municipal Taxes, if completed the proposed development will generate significant tax revenue for Vulcan County given that the development will be assessed as Non-Residential property and taxed accordingly. Assessment values on Farmland are much lower, being regulated by the province and not reflective of market value, so this must be considered when comparing tax rates across different assessment types.
Vulcan County General Municipal Tax Rates for 2025 are as follows:
General municipal property taxes raise the money required in the municipal budget that cannot be raised from all other sources of revenue. The overall taxable assessment of Vulcan County changes from one year to the next. A growth in taxable assessment that stems from new development (being new assessment) helps alleviate the burden of paying for the “revenue shortfall” across all ratepayers, assuming municipal expenditures are not increasing to the same extent or greater, or that other budgeted sources of revenue do not change. There are a lot of assumptions that go into a municipal budget!
Members of the public are encouraged to attend and provide comment at a Public Hearing if they deem themselves to be affected by the application. Evidence submitted in Public Hearing becomes part of the public record. As per s. 184 of the Municipal Government Act of Alberta, a municipal councilor must participate in the Public Hearing in order to vote on the bylaw amendment that requires one.
