Regina receives failing grade in fiscal accountability for 2024 budget: report

WATCH: The City of Regina has received a failing grade on last year’s budget from the C.D. Howe Institute.

The City of Regina has received a failing grade for its 2024 budget – with a report focused on grading the fiscal accountability of Canada’s major cities placing the Queen City at the bottom of its list.

The report, published by the C.D. Howe Institute, identified several issues with the transparency, reliability and timeliness of Regina’s city budget.

A total of four municipalities shared the lowest grade. In addition to Regina, Gatineau, Hamilton and Windsor received an F.

Richmond, B.C. was the only city to earn a grade of A. It did so by producing a budget consistent with Public Sector Accounting Standards (PSAS), according to the report.

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A lack of PSAS-consistent numbers was listed as among the main reasons for Regina’s decline in the rankings.

“Regina’s budget contained no PSAS-consistent numbers and did not provide comprehensive numbers for its operating and capital spending, instead presenting general and utility totals for each of its capital and operating budgets,” the report read.

Regina’s track record has been highly variable in the past four years. In 2021, the city received an F, 2022 saw a D, while 2023 saw a B.

In response to the report, the City of Regina said its decision to practice a two-year budget process in 2023-24 led to a shorter document being released last year.

“Administration made the one-time financial decision to release a shorter budget document in 2024 that only highlighted the limited changes from the previous year. This resulted in the F rating in the C.D. Howe report,” the statement read.

The city went to say that it will continue to “create a budget process that is transparent, accountable and maximizes value of the city’s limited resources.”

According to the institute, municipal budgets often present a fragmented view of operations and are rarely comparable with past results or financial statements after year’s end.

“Simple questions, such as how much spending is forecast to rise or what the bottom line will be, are often hard to answer,” the report read. “They are also problematically late, with councillors in too many municipalities voting on budgets after the fiscal year has started.”

Saskatoon faired better in the rankings, receiving a B+.

The C.D. Howe Institute is described as an independent not-for-profit research organization committed to “raising living standards by fostering economically sound public policies.”