Deloitte Uncovers Financial Mismanagement in Chestermere City Administration

A comprehensive audit by Deloitte Canada has revealed serious deficiencies in the financial governance of Chestermere, highlighting a series of irregular, improper, and improvident financial management practices in the city between October 18, 2021, and December 4, 2023.
Deloitte’s scrutiny was aimed at evaluating Chestermere’s financial management against the backdrop of applicable legislation and municipal standards observed across Alberta. “Our inspection procedures highlighted instances where the financial management of the City can be considered irregular, improper, or improvident,” Deloitte stated in their report.
Ric McIver, Minister of Municipal Affairs, affirmed his acceptance of the findings on Friday, following his appointment of Deloitte as an independent inspector in January. The report culminated in 94 strategic recommendations to amend the city’s financial practices, accompanied by two binding directives aimed at rectifying the identified gaps.
The first directive mandates Chestermere City Council and the chief administrative officer (CAO) to thoroughly review and report on each recommendation, providing justifications for any unaddressed issues. The second directive requires the CAO to ensure the availability of the inspection report to the public, both in print upon request and online, until the directives are fully executed to the satisfaction of the minister.
The report outlined 31 specific findings concerning financial policies, transactions, and governance, with notable infractions including unauthorized land sale agreements by the mayor and the lack of adequate policies for data loss prevention and transaction logging. It was found that out of 565 council expenses analyzed, only one adhered to the city’s policies.
Conducted over 15 weeks, the inspection involved a thorough review of over 10,000 correspondences, more than 1,000 financial transaction tests, 80 control tests, and over 30 interviews.
In the interim, an official administrator has assumed the role of the city council, and an interim CAO is overseeing the administration and operations of Chestermere. The responsibility for organizing any forthcoming byelections rests with the acting council and administration.