The City of Calgary has a lot of room to improve its budget transparency, according to a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute.
Every year, the think tank grades major Canadian municipalities based on the transparency and accountability of their financial documents. For 2024, Calgary received a grade of D+.
That’s a worse mark than Edmonton, Vancouver and Winnipeg, and a worse grade than the C+ the C.D. Howe Institute gave Calgary for its 2023 documents.
Report co-author Nicholas Dahir said Calgary presents its budget and financial statements using different accounting standards, which makes the numbers more difficult to understand.
Calgary does not include projections using public sector accounting standards (PSAS) in its budget, Dahir said, but it does use PSAS in its end-of-fiscal-year statements.
“This creates a huge friction for someone who’s not an expert in accounting,” said Dahir, a research officer with the C.D. Howe Institute.
“To people who don’t know about that accounting discrepancy, it is a huge gap and it impedes engagement. Why would you engage in the budget process, or with the financial statements at the end of the year, if you think the numbers are just in two different worlds?”
Dahir said it should be easy for the city to make its financial documents more consistent and accessible.
Calgary’s end-of-year financial statements include budget projections using PSAS-consistent numbers.
“You’re doing that work anyway. Why not simply do it at the start of the year, as well? That way, anyone can make a like-with-like comparison,” said Dahir.
“Municipal budgets are not incomprehensible. It can be better. In the past, it was worse, and over time cities have improved — and Calgary could, too.”
The report does give Calgary credit for consistently releasing its financial statements on time.
Mayor’s response
Calgary relies heavily on its auditors and credit rating agencies to advise the city on budgeting and reporting, Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek said.
“The C.D. Howe report is just another opportunity for us to see where they flag some gaps and what we can improve on,” said Gondek.
“The last three years that I have spent working with administration and council on improving our budget process are proof that I’m very much striving to make our budget more transparent and more clear to the public.”
The C.D. Howe Institute awarded its top letter grade, an A, to Richmond, B.C.
Vancouver, Quebec City and Ottawa followed with A- grades.
The report said the 2024 financial documents for these four cities stood out “for clarity, completeness and promptness.”
Red flag
Ward 1 Coun. Sonya Sharp was critical of the city for its poor grade, saying the result is a red flag.
Sharp argued it’s a problem when even city councillors have a difficult time getting answers to how much the city is spending in certain areas this year compared to previous years, and added the city’s trust with its citizens is built on clarity.
“When Calgarians can’t easily access or understand how their tax dollars are being spent, then we have a real problem,” Sharp said.
“I don’t think you need to have a finance degree to understand the city budget.”
Sharp added the city needs to work to build trust and confidence with Calgarians, to communicate how much the city is spending clearly and transparently.
