Budget

Financial Planning and Budgets

The development of the County’s financial plan and budget is one of the most critical functions undertaken by Council and Administration. The County develops an annual budget with multiyear financial and capital plans to reinforce the commitment to long-term fiscal strategies. Although the budget is approved for one year, this multi-year view allows for transparency of short and long-term plans to residents and other stakeholders. Once the budget is approved, any amendments to the budget must have formal approval through County Council.

Budget Cycle

The budget planning process is almost a full year initiative as preparation begins in early May for the following budget year. The Proposed Budget is presented to Council in October/November and adopted as required under the Municipal Government Act (MGA) prior to the calendar year-end December 31. To prepare the proposed budget, each department initially prepares a budget based on what is required to maintain current services and service levels.

To fund maintaining service levels, changes in service levels, new expenditures, including the addition of personnel, a business case is developed and brought forward to Council for their consideration. Council reviews all business cases and votes on which requests will be incorporated into the operating budget.

2024 Budget 

You can view the County's 2024 Budget by clicking here.

Public Engagement

In accordance with best practices, as part of the budget process County Administration is planning to host two in-person open houses to gather input on the proposed budget on November 12, 2024 at the Bold Centre and November 13, 2024 at the Festival Centre in Plamondon. Both open houses are from 5 to 8 pm.

Balancing Act Budget Simulator: Try Your Hand at Building the County's 2025 Budget

Try out the County’s new online platform, A Balancing Act, which allows you to build your own version of the County's 2025 budget. Click on the screenshot below to test out this new tool.

Operational Budget Builder


Capital Projects

Please click here to view the County's Proposed 2025 Capital Budget Projects. Each item includes detailed project information. If you have any questions, please email us at budget@laclabichecounty.com.

Prioritize

Lac La Biche County wants to know which projects you would select if you were to decide on capital priorities. Please click here to access the list of projects we want feedback on. Select the projects, rank them in the order of priority and provide comments if necessary to tell us how you would spend capital dollars in 2025.

Overview

This is a simulation for residents to take part in and provide feedback to Council electronically. The platform provides opportunities for residents to weigh in on questions in front of Council as well as allows residents to propose “their own” version of the budget. This tool puts the residents in the driver's seat to learn and understand municipal budgeting and the decisions that must be made to provide services. Information collected in the tool from residents will be shared with County Council so it can help guide development of the 2025 Budget.

Feedback from the simulation will be collected until November 22 and amalgamated for Council’s information and presented to Council at a subsequent meeting.


Frequently Asked Questions

The following list has been compiled to answer questions about the County's budget feedback process and tool. For additional questions and/or comments, contact budget@laclabichecounty.com

Question 1: Why did Lac La Biche County add the "A Balancing Act" budgeting tool?

Lac La Biche County is endeavouring to develop the most transparent and participatory budgeting processes in the Province. Over the years, staff has looked for ways to include more people in the budgeting process, especially those who are not able to attend the County’s budget meetings. This tool allows people to participate at their own pace, on their own schedule, in conjunction with the County’s traditional budget process.

Question 2: What information will the tool provide me?

The tool is loaded with the 2025 Proposed Budget information. There is also a link to the complete budget document for additional information.

Question 3: I've submitted recommendations through the tool, what happens next?

Submissions into the tool are compiled and shared with Council and Administration during budget deliberations, to help guide the decision-making process.

Question 4: I'd like to learn more about the County's budgeting process, where can I find more information?

The County’s current budget documents and budgeting process is available online at www.laclabichecounty.com/p/budget