Budget

View the draft 2026 budget (PDF)

Budget deliberation council presentations

Media releases:

What we heard from you

Each year, we ask for your input on how to prioritize our municipal spending. Throughout spring 2025, residents shared their views through online surveys, postcards, in-person events and telephone interviews.

More than 976 residents participated in the engagement, along with 16 focus group participants — a strong response that reflects how much the community cares about Cochrane.

This year, we once again hired a third-party consultant to collect your feedback and make sure it was representative and statistically valid. Between April 8 to May 7, 825 of you shared your thoughts. Most respondents (59%) felt that they received good to excellent value for their property taxes and that services should remain the same. When asked about your preferred tax strategy opinions were split: 45% supported a tax increase to maintain or increase services, while 41% preferred a tax decrease to maintain or decrease service levels. Compared to last year, fewer respondents support a decrease in taxes, with only one-third (32%) stating they would somewhat or strongly support a decrease in service levels to maintain taxes (which is down from 40% in 2024). In contrast, two-fifths (42%) stated they would oppose a decrease. As with prior years, around one-fifth (23%) did not indicate a preference either way.

View the full report on Let's Talk Cochrane