(rdnewsNOW file photo)

By rdnewsNOW staff

City finance

Financial roadmap provides pathway to long-term financial sustainability

Jul 21, 2025 | 5:04 PM

The City of Red Deer says they’re one step closer to fortifying the community’s long-term financial sustainability following a presentation of the financial roadmap to city council on Monday.

The roadmap provides a detailed assessment of the city’s financial maturity and highlights a path forward to enhance financial leadership, governance, and accountability.

This work comes after council’s direction in 2024 to develop a financial management and governance maturity plan and aligns with their 2025 priority of financial stewardship.

“The Financial Roadmap provides a strong foundation for Red Deer’s financial future,” said Tricia Hercina, General Manager of Finance. “It gives us a clear picture of where we are today, and even more importantly, a strategic direction for where we need to go. We’re focused on building a more transparent, collaborative, and data-informed financial function that can support council and the community long into the future.”

The report indicated key areas for improvement across financial systems, policies, and practices, and is accompanied by a 20-year budget scenario modelling tool to support future planning and long-range decision-making.

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The roadmap assessed the city’s financial operations, identifying both strengths and areas for improvement in areas such as financial policies, reporting, systems integration, and organizational structure.

As a result, the following recommendations are already in progress. The city has:

Initiated updates to financial policies, including those for offsite levies and utilities, with reserve-related work identified as a priority for the coming year.

• Launched service review efforts through Community Compass and zero-based budgeting.
• Begun recruitment for a permanent Chief Financial Officer, with interim leadership in place.
• Prepared to implement EPM budgeting software for the 2026 budget.
• Initiated a full review of the 10-Year Capital Plan, with a report coming to council in August.

The city says quarterly updates on implementation progress will be provided to the Audit Committee to ensure transparency and ongoing accountability.

“This is a long-term journey, not a one-time report,” added Hercina. “We’re committed to strengthening the financial foundation of our entire organization. The Roadmap gives us a shared direction for how to do that in a more integrated, transparent, and forward-looking way.”