Alberta municipalities facing $25B infrastructure deficit by end of 2026: RMA president

Kara Westerlund on Alberta Primetime Feb 4, 2026

As Alberta’s population remains on a steady incline, municipalities and rural communities are feeling the pressure on core infrastructure like roads and wastewater facilities.

Rural Municipalities of Alberta (RMA) president Kara Westerlund projects there will be a $25-billion rural infrastructure funding deficit by the end of this year.

“We look after approximately 75 per cent of the bridges in the province of Alberta – that’s massive,” said Westerlund. “Our association represents 85 per cent of the land mass, but less than 15 per cent of the population. There in itself is going to tell you the difficulties in dealing with this.”

With the main form of income for municipalities being property tax, communities with smaller populations aren’t able to afford to pay out of pocket for repairs to infrastructure.

“You just can’t build fast enough to keep up with the schools and the hospitals and all of the other infrastructure,” said Premier Danielle Smith. “We also know that we’re facing an affordability crisis, and so, Albertans just can’t handle additional taxes as well.”

She said a way to prevent deficits going forward is to invest in Alberta’s Heritage Savings Trust Fund and to get a better deal with Ottawa on equalization payments and to get a pipeline built.

“That’s a longer term option, but there’s certainly going to be some short-term pain we have to deal with in terms of deficits,” said Smith.

Brazeau County, about 100 kilometres southwest of Edmonton, is facing facing a hefty expense after a bridge in the county was closed just before Christmas. The municipality will be looking at doling out $2 million to $7 million to replace the bridge for a community of about 8,000 people.

“Where do you come up with the dollars?” said Westerlund. “Trying to find additional millions of dollars to fix a single bridge is next to impossible.”

Roads and bridges are often closed, creating long detours due to lack of funding for infrastructure repairs.

The Government of Alberta offers grants and programs where municipalities can apply for funding, but RMA is asking for short-term cash injections ahead of the provincial budget into the Local Government Fiscal Framework Fund (LGFF), which Westerlund says has seen a 20 per cent cut in recent years.

She added that the Strategic Transportation Infrastructure Program (STIP) has also seen cuts over the last two to three decades.

“We’re just asking for some short-term incentives and short-term cash injections into those (programs),” said Westerlund. “We’re asking for a re-look at those programs and how we’re going to be able to move forward.”

Minister of Municipal Affairs Dan Williams said the government invested $118.4 million to support 87 local road, bridge, community airport and water projects across the province last year through The Alberta Municipal Water and Wastewater Partnership and STIP.

Capital funding through the LGFF totaled $820 million in 2025.

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

“As Budget 2026 deliberations continue amid revenue pressures and competing priorities, all funding decisions will be communicated through the upcoming provincial budget.”

The province will release its budget for the year on Feb. 26.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Michael Higgins