Some changes have come to the electoral boundaries in the upcoming Wheatland County Municipal Election.
Council approved the changes on Sept. 17, 2024, with the new boundaries coming into effect on Oct. 19 or the day before the 2025 municipal election, whichever is earlier.
"The previous divisions were created in 2001, based on 2000 population numbers," wrote the county on its website. "Adjusting division boundaries is necessary to account for differences in population growth throughout the county."
The county claims that the changes were made to ensure equal representation, as some divisions have grown more than others in the last 24 years.
Division 5 saw a significant change, going from a resident count of 742 dropped to 475, as certain residences were moved to Divisions 2 and 6.
Divison 7 also saw a residence count increase of just shy of 80 as it encorporates boundaries that previously belonged to Divisions 1 and 7.
"A primary factor for determining electoral boundaries is the optimum distribution of population per division," added the county. "The optimum population for each division should be within a 25 per cent population average, which is determined by dividing the county’s total population by the number of divisions."
The changes have retained the county's total residence count of 3,675.
You can read the full bylaw on the Wheatland County website.