Sources and method

Where this comes from

Everything on these pages comes from public documents. Here they are, with how we used them, so anyone can check our work.

Documents

1. Ontario Financial Information Return (FIR)

   Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing · retrieved 2026-10-01

   The numbers behind the money and compare pages: 2019 to 2025 for Barrie, and 2025 for 4 similar places. Figures are what the municipality reported to the Province for each year, prepared on the same basis as its audited financial statements.

2. City of Barrie, budget documents

   City of Barrie · retrieved 2026-10-01

   The city’s published budgets. Used to check its plans against what it reported.

3. The Corporation of the City of Barrie, Consolidated Financial Statements, December 31, 2025 (Deloitte LLP, June 10, 2026)

   City of Barrie (auditor: Deloitte LLP) · retrieved 2026-10-14

   Audited statements for 2025 with the 2024 figures beside them. Clean opinion dated June 10, 2026. 32 PDF pages.

4. The Corporation of the City of Barrie, Consolidated Financial Statements, December 31, 2024 (Deloitte LLP, June 4, 2025)

   City of Barrie (auditor: Deloitte LLP) · retrieved 2026-10-14

   Audited statements for 2024. Used to confirm that the 2024 column in the 2025 statements matches. 33 PDF pages.

5. 2026 Business Plan: Operating Budget and Financial Overview

   City of Barrie · retrieved 2026-10-14

   The 2026 operating budget, reserve forecasts and debt plan. 39 PDF pages (printed pages 10 to 48).

6. 2026 Business Plan: Operating Budget Executive Summary

   City of Barrie · retrieved 2026-10-14

   The summary of the 2026 operating budget and capital plan. 8 PDF pages.

7. 2026 Budget: Capital Plan 2026-2035 (project list)

   City of Barrie · retrieved 2026-10-14

   The project-by-project capital plan. 15 PDF pages. We opened it but did not use any figure from it, because its table rows print across many lines.

8. Statistics Canada, Consumer Price Index, annual average (table 18-10-0005-01)

   Statistics Canada · retrieved 2026-10-01

   How much prices went up each year, so cost growth can be compared with inflation.

How the numbers are worked out

Day-to-day spending

Total expenses as reported, minus amortization ("wear and tear"), which is an accounting cost rather than cash spent that year. Costs are shown in the service where they were recorded, before the city spreads its office overhead across services, so the cost of running the office stays visible.

Per home

An amount divided by the number of households the city reported to the Province for that year.

Similar places

Ontario single-tier municipalities with 60% to 160% of this population that had filed their 2025 return, in 2025. This gives 4 places. "Typical" means the median: half of similar places are above it and half below. The size limits are a judgement call; moving them a little adds or drops a few places, so treat small differences in rank as noise. Per-home figures use the household counts each city reports to the Province. Places do not all count the same way: some include seasonal homes, so per-home comparisons are a guide, not exact.

Faster than prices

Growth is compared with Canada's Consumer Price Index over the same years.

When a question is raised automatically

When a cost grew at least 25 percentage points faster than prices and faster than 80% of similar places; when a measure of money health is worse than 80% of similar places; or when a one-year tax increase is higher than 80% of similar places and well above inflation. "Needs an answer" means worse than 90% of similar places. When there are fewer than 20 similar places, automatic questions go no higher than "Worth asking", because one rank moves a lot in a small group.

What this cannot see

These records show totals by category, not individual payments. They cannot show whether a particular contract was fair, whether a purchase was split to avoid tendering, or who was paid. That needs the city's list of payments (its cheque register or accounts payable list), which residents can ask for under Ontario's freedom-of-information law (MFIPPA). That is the next thing we plan to add.