Officials from the City of Lethbridge have analyzed what the 2026 Alberta Budget will mean for property taxes. (Image Credit: Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

Lethbridge property owners to pay $117 more in provincial property taxes in 2026

Mar 11, 2026 | 1:27 PM

We now know more about the impacts that proposed increases to the Provincial Education Property Tax (PEPT) will have.

Darrell Mathews, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer with the City of Lethbridge, has released updated calculations following the release of the proposed 2026 Alberta Budget.

READ MORE: Big spending, big deficit and fee hikes: Highlights from the Alberta budget

Provincial Education Property Tax

The Alberta Government collects taxes from residents for education spending via the PEPT, which is administered by municipalities on its behalf.

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This year, the province is proposing to increase the PEPT by 12.9 per cent.

Based on the average assessed value for a single-family detached home in Lethbridge of $389,000, that will result in property owners paying an additional $117 in 2026.

This follows a 13.8 per cent increase in the PEPT in 2025 and a 6.1 per cent increase in 2024.

Lethbridge mayor Blaine Hyggen says that these decisions are made by the provincial government, not the City of Lethbridge.

“On behalf of City Council, I just want to reiterate to our residents that this part of their property tax bill is not a municipal decision or a municipal tax,” says Hyggen. “The City simply collects the education property tax on behalf of the Province and remits it back to the Government of Alberta.”

The City has released a visual explainer of how property tax dollars were collected in 2025 and what that money went towards. An updated brochure with numbers for 2026 is expected to be released in May.

Provincial Infrastructure Funding

Mathews says municipalities across Alberta now receive around half of the per-person provincial funding they did 15 years ago.

This funding helps to support local services and infrastructure.

“For Lethbridge, this dynamic is important because, unlike the Province, municipal governments are required to balance their budgets each year,” Mathews said. “Any increase in costs or reduction in Provincial support must ultimately be offset by increases in local revenues – such as property taxes, utility rates or user fees – or through adjustments to service levels.”

Deliberations for the 2027 Operating Budget update are set to start in June, and negotiations for the 2027-2036 Capital Improvement Program will commence later this year.

Potential changes to the Alberta Government’s Local Government Fiscal Framework will influence these budgets. The City expects to see these numbers confirmed in April.

Other Provincial Funding Impacts

Mathews spoke about impacts to Family and Community Support Services (FCSS), the Policing Support Grant and Government Property in Lieu of Taxes (GIPOT). His full presentation and Council’s discussion can be viewed on the City’s YouTube page here.

In addition to the Provincial budget itself, the City is also experiencing operating pressures resulting from recent legislative and policy changes, including:

• Changes to Traffic Safety Act enforcement revenues, which have resulted in an estimated $2.2 million annual budget pressure
• The implementation of body-worn cameras for police services, creating approximately $800,000 in annual costs
• Changes to election legislation requiring hand counting of ballots, which has significantly increased election administration costs

READ MORE: Lethbridge mayor pleased to see highway safety measures in Alberta budget