Citing staff capacity constraints and city priorities, the upcoming municipal census originally planned to take place this summer has been postponed to 2024, council heard from administration this month.
“The 2023 census budget was $160,000 with $127,900 funded from the census reserve,” reads a report to council. “The 2023 net budget of $32,100 will be transferred into the reserve and used to fund the 2024 census.”
In January, council approved a change in how frequently the city completes municipal censuses, with a census now scheduled to be completed every five years, rather than every two years as was previously set in policy.
The frequency change was to allow the census reserve to garner enough funds every five years to cover costs, while also having a census occur in between federal censuses, which are also completed every five years.
The most recent national census was completed in 2021, while the last municipal census in St. Albert was done in 2018.
