‘It’s a struggle’: Alberta’s rural municipalities facing $17 billion infrastructure deficit

Rural municipalities in Alberta say the province hasn't been pitching in enough funding, and now they face a $17-billion infrastructure deficit.

LETHBRIDGE, Alta. - As municipalities continue to face challenges with securing infrastructure funding, rural communities are raising concerns about what they call a ‘lack of funding’ from the province.

A recent review put together by the Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA) shows that in 2024 rural municipalities faced a $17 billion infrastructure deficit.

“Moving into 2026, we’re actually expecting that number to continue to grow and sit around that $25 billion mark,” said Kara Westerlund, RMA president.

She says years of underfunding infrastructure such as roads, bridges, culverts and water and wastewater systems has led to the large deficit.

“We definitely didn’t get here overnight,” said Westerlund.

“Provincial water and wastewater funding dropped from $85 million in 2023 to $33 million in 2025. Rural municipalities receive less than 20 per cent water and wastewater funding despite managing about 30 per cent of the infrastructure.”

She added that funding for transportation infrastructure decreased by $44 million between 2024 and 2025.

Rural municipalities cover 85 per cent of Alberta’s land mass, with only 15 per cent of the population.

“As we see costs rise, density and growth are good things, but that impact on our infrastructure is a real struggle,” said Tory Campbell, Lethbridge County Reeve.

Rural municipalities are home to more than 135,000 kilometres of roads and 30 per cent of bridges in the province. To ensure maintenance is kept up, Campbell says provincial funding is critical. But he says over the years, the money allocated to those projects has been less and less.

“The struggle is real,” said Campbell.

“I think we see downloading from the province, which makes it tough. We have limited ways to generate revenue as a municipality, but we continue to face a shortfall in terms of our infrastructure is.”

“Our infrastructure was built with 1970s, 80s and 90s dollars and the reality to replace those now is staggering.”

The RMA says without the necessary funding municipalities are having to shut down roads, reduce weight loads and add restrictions because they can’t afford to fix bridges or build new.

“This has been building over years, it’s not something that just happened overnight,” she said.

“We’re not going to fix it overnight and it’s not going to be the province stepping in and taking it over, it’s going to be fixed when we sit down at the table together and we look at the long-term solutions.”

To raise awareness, the RMA has launched a five-week campaign called Closing the Gap: The Rural Infrastructure Funding Deficit.

The province acknowledges and values the advocacy efforts being raised by the RMA.

“We remain committed to working collaboratively with RMA members and local governments to understand shared challenges and support sustainable, long-term solutions,” read a statement from minister of municipal affairs Dan Williams.

“Through programmes such as the Strategic Transportation Infrastructure Program and the Alberta Municipal Water and Wastewater Partnership, the province continues to make targeted investments that support rural communities. In 2025 alone, Alberta’s government invested $118.4 million to support 87 local road, bridge, community airport, and water projects across rural Alberta, directly improving safety, and reliability for the communities that depend on this infrastructure every day,” the statement continued.

The minister adding that the Local Government Fiscal Framework contributed $820 million in 2025 to infrastructure, along with $276 million from the Canada Community-Building Fund.

“As fiscal resources are finite, municipalities are encouraged to prioritize core infrastructure when allocating available grant dollars and local tax revenues,” read the statement.

But Westerlund says funding needs to be restored to levels sustainable for communities.

“The millions of dollars in cash injection were absolutely very well welcomed and the money was well spent, but it is just a drop in the bucket at the end of the day,” said Westerlund.

The RMA and local municipalities are calling on the province and federal government for more support to ensure infrastructure needs can be met across the province.

“I don’t think it’s purely the responsibility of municipalities,” said Campbell.

“I think this needs to be a joint collaborative effort and I would also say the same for the federal government.”

The province says as amid revenue pressures and competing priorities, all funding decisions will be communicated through the upcoming provincial budget.