Summary#

Calgary City Council adopted the 2025 Civic Partner Audit Report on June 30, 2026, on the consent agenda, with no debate recorded. Council received it for the Corporate Record and directed that specified confidential attachments remain confidential, with a review set for October 22, 2029. The report’s stated goal is to assess the City’s financial and organizational risks from its Civic Partners.

• The report covers all Civic Partners, including some that do not receive ongoing City funding.
• City staff rated 23 partners low risk, four elevated risk and two high risk, based on 2025 audited financial statements.
• Staff say they are working with elevated- and high-risk partners on ways to reduce risk. Each partner’s board remains responsible for managing its organization’s risks.
• Attachments with partner ratings, mitigation strategies and detailed partner information remain confidential until they are reviewed on the set date.

What it means for you#

• Calgarians: The decision does not directly change public services, access to facilities, grants or partner funding. It records the annual review and sets confidentiality for specified attachments.
• Civic Partners: The report says partners supplied audited financial statements and governance and risk-management information. This Council decision does not create a new reporting process.
• Taxpayers: The City continues to face possible costs if a partner operating a City-owned facility defaults or stops operating. The report says the City might then have to cover building or operating costs.

Money#

The report lists existing City funding of $147,572,720 for operating grants and $99,578,697 for capital funding; it does not identify new spending from this decision.

• The report says the City’s partners manage and operate more than $1.4 billion in City-owned assets.
• No cost estimate for preparing the report or working on risk mitigation is provided.

What is unclear#

• The public report does not identify which partners received each risk rating or detail their mitigation strategies; those details are in confidential attachments.
• It is unclear what the confidentiality review in 2029 will involve or whether any information will then be made public.
• The report does not state the cost of staff work on the annual review and mitigation strategies.

Case for#

• City staff say annual reviews help assess the City’s exposure to risk and guide how it works with partners.
• The ratings identify that six of 29 partners were rated elevated or high risk, allowing staff to focus mitigation work on those organizations.
• The report covers partners beyond those receiving ongoing operating grants, giving the City a broader view of its partnerships.

Case against#

• The decision keeps partner-level ratings and detailed risk information confidential, limiting what the public can assess about the risks tied to City funding and assets.
• The report identifies possible consequences if a partner defaults or stops operating: the City may face building or operating costs, and Calgarians may lose or see a reduction in services.
• The public material does not show whether staff’s mitigation work is resolving the risks identified for the four elevated-risk and two high-risk partners.