Not the full picture. Built from public records, which leave things out.Read by hand, Oct 2026Details

This is built from public records, which leave a lot out, and some of it may be wrong or out of date. Check the sources, and tell us if you spot a mistake. What this site can't tell you
Read by hand. We read Bluewater's own documents for this site in October 2026; the Sources page lists which ones. The comparisons with other places still come from the Province's yearly reports.

Compare · 2025

How Bluewater compares with similar towns

Is Bluewater spending a lot or a little? The fairest way to tell is to compare it with towns like it. We picked every Ontario town of the same type (Ontario lower-tier municipalities with 60% to 160% of this population that had filed their 2025 return): 38 towns with between 4,801 and 11,876 people.

How to read this. Each grey dot is one similar town. The large dot is Bluewater, and the line marked "typical" is the town in the middle. The label and colour say where Bluewater sits:

▼ Very low: lower than 90% of similar towns
▼ Low: lower than 75%
≈ Typical: in the middle half
▲ High: higher than 75%
▲ Very high: higher than 90%
Warning mark: unusual in a worrying way for this measure, like very low savings or a very high tax increase

Being far from the middle is not wrong by itself, but it is where to start asking why.

One thing to keep in mind: "per home" uses the number of households each town reports to the Province. Some towns count seasonal cottages as households and some do not, so comparisons with lake and cottage towns are rougher than they look.

Similar towns in Southwestern Ontario include Mono, Shelburne, Puslinch, Mapleton, Minto, West Perth, South-West Oxford, Zorra.

Spending per home

What the town spends on each service, divided by the number of homes. This makes big and small towns comparable.

Total day-to-day spending

Everything the town spent in a year, divided by the number of homes.

$3,566Higher than 25 of 38 similar towns. Typical: $3,079

typical

Town property tax

The town's own share of property tax, divided by the number of homes.

$2,759Higher than 28 of 38 similar towns. Typical: $2,358

typical

Running the town office

Council, managers, office staff and the town hall, per home.

$463Lower than 29 of 38 similar towns. Typical: $503

typical

Council

Council pay, expenses and meetings, per home.

$34Lower than 33 of 38 similar towns. Typical: $52

typical

Roads and snow

Per home. Towns with many kilometres of rural road spend more.

$916Higher than 30 of 38 similar towns. Typical: $734

typical

Snow ploughing

Per home.

$108Lower than 27 of 38 similar towns. Typical: $128

typical

Police, fire and safety

Per home.

$738Higher than 22 of 38 similar towns. Typical: $707

typical

Fire department

Per home.

$221Lower than 26 of 38 similar towns. Typical: $241

typical

Police

Per home. Most small Ontario towns pay the OPP under the same province-wide formula.

$314Higher than 21 of 38 similar towns. Typical: $309

typical

Water, sewers and garbage

Per home.

$858Higher than 29 of 38 similar towns. Typical: $556

typical

Garbage, dump and recycling

Per home.

$175Higher than 20 of 38 similar towns. Typical: $168

typical

Parks, arena and library

Per home.

$509Higher than 27 of 38 similar towns. Typical: $390

typical

Planning and business

Per home.

$76Lower than 25 of 38 similar towns. Typical: $108

typical

Money health

Signs of whether the town is living within its means.

Savings compared with spending

Savings, as a share of one year's spending.

154%Higher than 34 of 38 similar towns. Typical: 100%

typical

Savings (reserves)

Money set aside for repairs and emergencies, per home. More is safer.

$5,500Higher than 32 of 38 similar towns. Typical: $2,940

typical

Long-term debt

What the town still owes on long-term loans, per home.

$2,489Higher than 34 of 38 similar towns. Typical: $1,109

typical

Unpaid property taxes

Property taxes owed but not yet paid at year end, as a share of all taxes billed. The Province’s financial indicators treat 10% to 15% as a moderate risk and more than 15% as high.

5%Lower than 36 of 38 similar towns. Typical: 7%

typical

Share spent running the office

Out of every dollar spent, how much goes to running the town office.

13%Lower than 32 of 38 similar towns. Typical: 16%

typical

How worn out things are

How much of the value of roads, pipes and buildings has already been used up. Higher means older.

39%Lower than 25 of 38 similar towns. Typical: 45%

typical

How fast costs are growing

Growth over five years (2020 to 2025), and the latest one-year change in property tax.

Property tax increase, last year

How much more the town collected in its own property tax than the year before.

5%Lower than 28 of 38 similar towns. Typical: 7%

typical

Property tax growth, 5 years

How much the town's own property tax grew over five years.

36%Higher than 26 of 38 similar towns. Typical: 32%

typical

Spending growth, 5 years

How much day-to-day spending grew over five years.

39%Higher than 21 of 38 similar towns. Typical: 38%

typical

Office cost growth, 5 years

How much the cost of running the town office grew over five years.

47%Higher than 20 of 38 similar towns. Typical: 45%

typical

Council cost growth, 5 years

How much council costs grew over five years.

18%Lower than 29 of 38 similar towns. Typical: 32%

typical

Parks and arena cost growth, 5 years

How much parks, arena and library costs grew over five years.

45%Lower than 29 of 38 similar towns. Typical: 59%

typical

Roads cost growth, 5 years

How much road and snow costs grew over five years.

64%Higher than 32 of 38 similar towns. Typical: 43%

typical

Source: Ontario Financial Information Return (FIR), 2025, all 39 municipalities (archived copy). Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. Retrieved 2026-10-01. Figures are what the municipality reported to the Province for each year, prepared on the same basis as its audited financial statements.

Towns sort costs into categories a little differently, and some share services with neighbours, so small gaps mean little. Big gaps are worth a question.