Cold Lake is moving forward with plans for a major new Public Works Operations Centre, after council approved a budget increase during its April 8 meeting.
The 2025 Capital Budget was changed from $14.4 million to $30.8 million, with $12.9 million set aside for the Public Works Centre and $3.5 million for a related stormwater management facility.
Council also passed an interim 2026 Capital Budget of $6.4 million to continue funding the facility into the next year. These changes come after new cost estimates showed the full project is now expected to cost $55.3 million, up from the original $32.4 million budget. The updated total covers building the operations facility, preparing the site, extra funds for unexpected costs, and a stormwater pond.
A $23 million funding gap will be left, which the updated budget aims to close. The stormwater facility is still part of the project, but it’s being paid for separately with a $3.5 million loan, which could be paid back later through off-site developer fees. “That’s why we separated that so that way it doesn’t get too layered into the overall operations centre budget,” said CAO Kevin Nagoya.
The approach helps maintain clarity in the budget while still addressing needed infrastructure. “This development community that is adjacent to the Public Works Operations Centre has also requested for some infrastructure to go in, so that way development is not hindered in a bottleneck that it can’t grow within that neighborhood as well,” Nagoya added.
With construction management plans and bids in place, the city is aiming to move ahead without further delays. However, predicting costs remains difficult. “That being said, there’s no way to forecast any of that. If you ask somebody to lock a bid in that matter, of course they’re going to build in a whole bunch of fluff and profitability,” Nagoya said.
He also noted that even if work begins immediately, it will likely take a couple of years before everything is finished. “I anticipate, even if we launch right now, we’ll bleed into end of 2026, start of 2027 before the project is fully completed,” he said.
Council approved both the adjusted 2025 Capital Budget and the interim 2025 budget to support the expanded project.
