A slow start to the year and a lack of major projects highlighted the City of Lloydminster’s first financial update of 2026.
Read more: Saskatchewan police seize 40kg of drugs, lay 700-plus charges
Ryan Hill, financial planning and analysis manager for the city, presented at the Governance and Priorities Committee meeting on May 11, updating council on the city’s current financial situation.
He noted there was an increase in long-term investment.
“Under financial assets, you’ll see a large increase in long-term investments. That was a $23-million increase from the same time last year in 2025,” he said. “That’s mainly attributed to, we did a draw of debt, the final draw for the Cenovus Energy Hub, so that cash came in in Q1 and then a portion of that was invested into investments. We did a $20-million investment in February.”
As the Cenovus Energy Hub project recently wrapped up, plenty of areas of finances were affected, including long-term debt.
“Long-term debt went up, and that is just due to that final draw being taken in January,” he said. “We’re still at 13 debentures and the amount outstanding is now $88M as of March 31.”
There are still some projects yet to be approved, which could add more debt.
“If all the approved projects were to proceed, an extra $22.8M would be added to that amount,” said Hill. “If all that forecast debt is drawn by the end of 2026, we would be at 54 per cent of our actual debt limit.”
Tangible capital assets have increased more than $1B, nearly $100M more than the same period in 2025.
“You’ll notice that tangible capital assets have gone up significantly. That’s us capitalizing on a bunch of projects, mainly Cenovus Energy Hub,” he said.
Addressing revenues, Hill noted that municipal tax collections appear low because the city does not officially levy taxes until the second quarter.
“A large portion of expenses relate to transferring money into reserves. We do that in Q2 and we also do a major transfer in Q4,” he said.
Additionally, the report forecasts where the city’s reserves will stand by the end of the year.
“Total reserves are expected to be at $46.8M at the end of December,” he said.
Currently the city has 134 ongoing projects. Of those projects, 12 are complete, 28 haven’t been started and 94 are in progress.
Unlike previous years, the city currently has no major capital projects underway, following the progression of the Wastewater Treatment Plant and the Cenovus Energy Hub.
Read more: Saskatchewan’s Leinenweber shows major junior, NHL potential
