Cold Lakers to pay 8% more into Alberta’s Education tax in 2026

Cold Lake, AB – Residents in Cold Lake can expect the provincial portion of their property tax bill to increase significantly as the Government of Alberta has made another large increase to the education requisition.

The community will see an eight per cent increase for 2026, as the province looks to raise another $587,063 from the community, increasing Cold Lake’s education requisition from about $7.5 million to $8 million. This is the second significant increase in the education requisition in a row. The provincial education requisition paid by the City of Cold Lake was raised from about $6.6 million to almost $7.5 million, a 13 per cent increase for Cold Lake in 2025.

“We‘ve worked hard to keep a minimal property tax increase in Cold Lake, so it’s difficult to explain to residents why they will see such significant increases on the non-municipal portion of their property tax bill,” Mayor Bob Mattice said. “We all know that, at the end of the day, there is only one taxpayer and that taxpayer is being squeezed from all sides as the cost for everything keeps going up. Cold Lake has for several years passed very conservative budgets that are being chipped away by inflation. We work our hardest to pass as little of these increases on to residents as possible, but the increases we are seeing in costs and taxes are not sustainable.”

While municipalities pass a municipal tax rate to cover the cost of their operating budgets, education requisitions and requisitions for seniors’ lodges are set by the province and collected by municipalities through property tax. These funds are then transferred to the provincial government.

The increases in the education tax stem from Government of Alberta’s 2026 budget and, for the average house in Cold Lake worth $300,000, a property owner can expect to pay $65 more in 2026 to cover the increase in education taxes. This is on top of the additional $120 that the average taxpayer paid in 2025 due to the 13% increase in the education requisition just last year.

Based on the recent announcements, there are municipalities impacted by over 20% increase around the province.

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