Year in Review 2025: Alberta Municipalities

Municipal Affairs
10 hours ago
2 min read

Today we’re taking a deep dive into the year that was — 2025, a year that tested Alberta’s municipalities, reshaped policy debates, and reminded us just how essential local government is to the everyday lives of Albertans.

2025 was an election year — on October 20th, nearly every community in Alberta headed to the polls.

However, even before voters cast their ballots, the conversation around local democracy was intensifying. From concerns over new rules banning electronic vote tabulators to questions about how municipal elections should be run in the future, governance itself became a headline.

At the same time, municipalities were wrestling with long-standing fiscal tensions. The province’s budget brought a partial restoration of Grants in Place of Taxes and a welcome boost to infrastructure funding — but it wasn’t enough to quiet the alarm bells ringing across the province.

The theme we heard again and again? Costs rising, responsibilities growing, funding lagging behind. And the frustration didn’t stop there.

But 2025 also brought forward ideas — big ones.

At the Alberta Municipalities Convention, members pushed for expanded local revenue tools, including the much-debated municipal accommodation tax.

Alberta Municipalities pressed the province to take over collection of education property taxes, and they renewed calls for long-term, stable funding that keeps pace with population growth and inflation.

And in the midst of these debates, local leaders continued to innovate, taking on water governance, policing pressures, and regional planning challenges with limited resources but relentless determination. So today, we’re unpacking the highs, the lows, and the turning points of 2025 with someone who’s had a front-row seat to all of it.

Joining us is the President of Alberta Municipalities, Dylan Bressey.

We’ll talk election changes, funding battles, new revenue ideas, and what municipalities need most as we look toward 2026 and beyond.

This is Municipal Affairs.

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