Budget Commitments

The following five commitments underpin the 2025-2026 budget planning process:

Address community needs and ensure excellent service: Our foremost obligation is to our community. We must prioritize initiatives that address the pressing needs of our residents and uphold a standard of excellence in the services we deliver.
Balance affordability with the need to invest in City infrastructure and operations: It’s important to strike the delicate balance between affordability for our residents and the requirement to invest in our city's infrastructure and operations. We must make prudent investments today to lay the groundwork for a prosperous tomorrow.
Ensure financial sustainability of our municipality: Our municipality's financial health, without reliance on our energy production business unit, is essential for our long-term viability. We must be committed to reducing our reliance on volatile commodity revenues through responsible budgetary practices and prudent management of resources.
Thoughtful use of reserves for future needs: Our reserves represent a critical asset for addressing future challenges and seizing future opportunities, including energy transition, abandonment and reclamation obligations, and Facilities for the Future. We will exercise thoughtful discretion in utilizing these reserves to meet the evolving needs of our community and clearly articulate the intent of these funds.
Alignment with Council Strategic Priorities: We also need to ensure that every dollar we spend aligns with council's strategic priorities and our corporate strategic objectives. We’ve launched our integrated planning process that includes the long-range forecast, business cases for all new capital growth projects, a criteria-based process to rank all the projects, and departmental business plans based on objectives and priorities. This will help to ensure we are only undertaking projects that are needed for our community and create long-term value for the city.