At the January 22, 2024 Regular Council Meeting, council approved the tax-supported 2024 Operating Budget of $22,348,727, with a municipal requisition of $9,962,718 and an operating reserve of $1,202,132. This is a 4 per cent increase in tax revenue and is down from the previous 4.8 per cent increase in 2023.
Of the $22.3 million Operating Budget, 33 per cent will go to paying the Salaries and Benefits of the Town of Drumheller’s (TOD) employees. Approximately 25 per cent of the more than $22.3 million budget goes to requisitions like the RCMP, The Drumheller and District Senior’s Foundation and Alberta Education. The Drumheller Fire Department will receive $66,500 for new supplies and tools needed. Grants and Organizations will receive $372,195, with the Drumheller Public Library receiving $223,438 of that amount, staying within the 4% increase.
“Administration has worked hard to produce a budget that is prudent and equitable during a time of increased costs brought on by inflation, all of which have an impact on the Towns operations,” states Councillor Tony Lacher in the Drumheller Media Release on Tuesday January 22, 2024. “The proposed increase has been reduced to a level that we, as Council, are satisfied with, considering the economic conditions that we continue to face.”
Compared to other Municipalities budgets, that average a 5.7 per cent increase, The Town of Drumheller has managed to create opportunities to lower costs while still maintaining balance within the 4 per cent increase.

A 24-year-old Wheatland man is among four charged in relation to a woman’s death in March of 2023.
On Thursday, January 18 the Alberta RCMP major crimes unit, along with assistance from the Calgary Police Service and the RCMP Southern Alberta District Crime Unit arrested four people in the murder of Tara Miller.
37-year-old Miller was found deceased on March 30, 2023, at about 5 p.m. Turner Valley and Okotoks RCMP responded to a call of human remains discovered near Highway 522 at the intersection of 128 Street East Near Okotoks. Investigators were treating the investigation as a homicide.
Gurpreet Gill, 30, Calgary, has been charged with first-degree murder, aggravated assault, and using a firearm in an indictable offence. Release Hearing, Gill was remanded into custody and appeared in Alberta Court of Justice in Calgary on Jan. 22.
Greg Schuster, 30, of Calgary, has been charged with manslaughter, aggravated assault and accessory after the fact. Schuster was remanded into custody and will be appearing in Alberta Court of Justice in Calgary on Feb. 1, 2024.
Jared Burke, 24, a resident of Wheatland County, has been charged with manslaughter, aggravated assault and using a firearm in an indictable offence. After a Judicial Interim Release Hearing, Burke was remanded into custody and will be appearing in Alberta Court of Justice in Calgary on Jan. 25, 2024.
Shyana Popplestone, 25, of Calgary, has been charged with manslaughter. She was remanded into custody and will be appearing in Alberta Court of Justice in Calgary on January 26, 2024.