Alberta government provides breakdown of $647M in wildfire costs

The money the Alberta government spent on the wildfires in Fort McMurray paid for everything from abandoned vehicles to psychological counselling, from parks restoration to air and water monitoring.

According to the most recent breakdown of the accumulated costs, the biggest expense was $175 million that went to cover costs incurred by the Regional Municipal of Wood Buffalo.

The government also paid $35 million for "psychosocial support services" and $1 million for abandoned vehicles, according to figures released by Alberta Treasury Board.

The total cost to the provincial government for the disaster recovery program is projected to be $647 million, offset by $452 million in disaster assistance from the federal government.

"Many of the final costs are still being assessed, so these numbers are subject to change," said Mike Berezowsky, spokesman for the treasury board.

In his quarterly fiscal update this week, Finance Minister Joe Ceci said the province's net cost for the May wildfires was $500 million, which included an estimated $300 million loss from natural resource royalties and corporate income tax.

The un-budgeted expense of the wildfires pushed the provincial deficit to a record $10.9 billion, $500 million higher than forecast in the spring budget.