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 2024 for Belleville, and 2024 for 11 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 Belleville, council remuneration and expense statements

   City of Belleville · retrieved 2026-10-02

   What each council member was paid, and spent on benefits and expenses, 2025 to 2025. One statement a year; the link is the latest, and the council page links each year.

3. City of Belleville, budget documents

   City of Belleville · retrieved 2026-10-01

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

4. 2025 Consolidated Financial Statements (audited)

   City of Belleville and KPMG LLP · retrieved 2026-10-02

   Audited statements with the auditor’s report of June 22, 2026. Used for debt, taxation, budget against actual by service, and the check against the Province’s figures.

5. 2024 Consolidated Financial Statements (audited)

   City of Belleville and KPMG LLP · retrieved 2026-10-02

   Audited statements with the auditor’s report of August 12, 2025. Used for 2023 and 2024 taxation.

6. 2024 Operating Budget (as amended)

   City of Belleville · retrieved 2026-10-02

   The list of 2024 budget changes with the running total of the tax increase, and the description of each one.

7. 2025 Operating Budget Detail (as amended)

   City of Belleville · retrieved 2026-10-02

   Every department’s accounts for 2022 to 2024 actual and the 2025 budget. Used for council, the clerk and grants.

8. 2026 Tax Implications, as approved February 25

   City of Belleville · retrieved 2026-10-02

   What the 2026 budget does to a tax bill, by type of property.

9. Council agenda, March 23, 2026

   City of Belleville · retrieved 2026-10-02

   Includes the treasurer’s report on council pay and expenses for 2025 (DF-2026-10, PDF page 82, a table) and the table of contract awards.

10. Council minutes, February 24, 2025 to September 28, 2026 (33 regular meetings read)

    City of Belleville · retrieved 2026-10-02

    Read for closed sessions, declarations of interest and by-laws. Each meeting’s minutes are a separate file in the portal’s Minutes folder. We did not read the January 2025 meetings or the July 27, 2026 meeting.

11. Declaration of Interest Registry

    City of Belleville · retrieved 2026-10-02

    Declarations of interest for 2025 and 2026, with the general nature of each.

12. Accountability and Transparency

    City of Belleville · retrieved 2026-10-02

    The Integrity Commissioner and closed meeting investigator, and how to complain.

13. Freedom of Information

    City of Belleville · retrieved 2026-10-02

    How to make a freedom-of-information request and the fees.

14. 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 2024 return, in 2024. This gives 11 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.

Checked against the audited statements

For 2024 we compared the Province’s figures with the City’s audited statements (KPMG LLP, a clean opinion signed August 12, 2025). Total expenses of $184,032,588 match the 2024 column of the 2025 statements. The Province’s city property tax of $130,484,057 in 2024 equals municipal taxation ($127,593,774) plus taxation from other governments ($2,890,283), and the 2023 figure of $118,094,877 equals $115,376,340 plus $2,718,537. The statements.

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.