(Town of Innisfail/Supplied)

By Ian Gustafson

Balancing affordability

Year-in-Review: Innisfail Mayor Jean Barclay reflects on housing and economic development

Jan 2, 2026 | 11:12 AM

It was a busy year in the Town of Innisfail, according to Mayor Jean Barclay, where council focused on housing and economic development in the community.

As a result, she said, in both of those areas, they’ve seen a lot of progress.

“The housing market remains robust even through December,” she said.

Last month, the town began development on a new housing site comprising 61 lots, which will feature mixed housing. Last she heard in early December, 70 per cent were conditionally sold, and they’ll begin construction in the new year.

In addition, after years of planning, in 2025, they began construction on a new multi-million-dollar seed cleaning plant in the Town of Innisfail’s Industrial Park.

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And of course, Deep Sky Alpha’s new facility began operations this year after finishing construction on what they say is the world’s first cross-technology carbon removal centre. It costed approximately $50 million.

Currently, the Innisfail Aquatic Centre modernization project is underway, which she said is a $15 million project.

Over the past year, the town has also faced funding challenges.

Mayor Barclay explained in the town’s state of infrastructure report that there’s a $2.4 million gap in what they’ve projected to fund in its 10-year capital plan and what they are actually funding.

“A rise in costs makes it more and more challenging to replace the water, wastewater, sidewalks, road repairs, and everything that goes along with that,” she said. “It’s a huge challenge, and I think it’s going to be like that in the years ahead.”

With that in mind, they continue to be cognizant of affordability as lots of people are struggling. She said with the current funding challenges, the way to raise more funding is through increasing property taxes. However, in recent budget deliberations council decided not to increase taxes, but that could potentially change.

“We feel that the assessment growth will cover what we need to fund our operating budget. We will know in the new year what that assessment growth is, so we may have to adjust mill rates at that time,” she added.

Looking ahead, Barclay said in early January, the council will spend a few days on strategic planning and lay out their priorities for the next four years. She said they’ll decide if they want to continue what the previous council prioritized or if they want to go in a different direction.

“We work hard to try to balance the scarce resources that we have in the most efficient manner as well as be cognizant of affordability and tax increases,” she said. “It can be a struggle for so many, and for others it’s not. We try to find that happy medium, but at the same time, we always have to ensure that we are funding the organization and making sure we are able to deliver these services that people expect.”