Your town, in plain words
A clear, checkable guide to Burk's Falls' budget, taxes and council decisions. A village in the District of Parry Sound with a five-member council: a mayor, a deputy mayor and three councillors. Every figure links back to the public record.
Follow Burk's Falls in one tapWhere it goes
Questions worth asking
Each one is a question, not an accusation. Every one lists ordinary reasons it could be true, and the documents it comes from.
$378per home on council, 2024
Burk's Falls spent about $378 per home on council in 2024. The typical similar town spent $114. Only 4 of 54 similar towns spent more.
Found automatically from the town's financial reports · 1 source
$12,026per home on long-term debt, 2024
Burk's Falls spent about $12,026 per home on long-term debt in 2024. The typical similar town spent $578. None of the 54 similar towns spent more.
Found automatically from the town's financial reports · 1 source
$1,290,769.00the low bidder's revised price (plus HST) for the cut-down Yonge Street job, including a $180,000 contingency that staff later asked to cut to $100,000
The Village's biggest 2026 job is rebuilding Yonge Street. Council's own minutes say all the bids were over the approved budget. Council cut the scope of the job (called Option 5), the low bidder gave a new price, and council then said the extra would come out of the water reserve (savings kept for water and sewer work), to be paid back on a schedule. The papers we read do not say how much will come out of the reserve or how long repayment will take.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 4 sources
$1,929,777still owed to the Village by the Almaguin Manor Residence at December 31, 2024
The Village's audited statements include the Almaguin Manor Residence, a 32-suite affordable housing complex. The Village borrowed money from the province's lending agency and loaned it on to the Manor, and the statements say the Manor has not been able to make all of its payments since 2019. The loan was reworked at the end of 2022. The Manor also has its own mortgage, which the statements say is covered by a loan guarantee. By our arithmetic, that mortgage is about two-thirds of the Village's reported long-term debt.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 5 sources
$815,446estimated 2026 amortization, against $652,734 of steady yearly capital funding (the Village's own report)
Amortization is the accounting cost of assets wearing out each year. Budgets usually leave it out, which is allowed. The Village's own report for the 2026 budget says its steady yearly funding for capital (about $652,734) is below its yearly amortization (about $815,446), and calls that level of investment not sustainable in the longer term. The audited statements show the Village bought about half as much in capital assets as it wrote off in each of 2023 and 2024. This is the Village's own warning, not an overspend.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 3 sources
+72%running the town office, 2019 to 2024
Burk's Falls spent $452K on running the town office in 2019 and $777K in 2024. Prices only went up about 18% in that time. Only 7 of 54 similar towns had faster growth here.
Found automatically from the town's financial reports · 3 sources
$40,369budgeted for Rural Youth Group revenue in 2026, with $0.00 booked by June 30, 2026
The 2026 budget carries the Rural Youth Group as an even trade: $40,369 of expected revenue and $40,369 of supplies spending. By June 30, 2026 no revenue had been booked and $740.53 had been spent. Council said in April that the project was presented as having no cost to ratepayers, and asked for a written understanding to confirm it. In July the group's committee recommended pausing work on a physical youth centre location and noted that raising money is meant to be a main job of a coordinator who had not yet been hired.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 4 sources
$291,6542026 policing levy, up from $262,751 in 2025 (about 11 per cent, worked out by us)
Policing is the largest of the outside bills the Village must pay. For 2026 it rose by $28,903. The Village's own summary lists it as a mandatory levy, meaning council does not set it. We raise it only as context for why the 2026 tax bill went up.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 3 sources
$69,5002026 budget for council remuneration, against $57,783 spent in 2025 (before audit)
The council pay line in the 2026 budget is higher than what was spent in 2025. The 2025 council pay statement shows total pay below the budgeted amount. We do not compare members to each other; this is only about the total.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 2 sources
−$2.8Mnet financial position, 2024
In 2019, Burk's Falls had $2.2M more in cash and money owed to it than it owed to others. By 2024 it was −$2.8M. About 7% of that change ($325K) is a new accounting rule from 2023: towns must now record the future cost of closing things like a landfill. That is not new spending or borrowing. Even leaving that out, only 1 of 54 similar towns are in a weaker position.
Found automatically from the town's financial reports · 2 sources
$372per home on snow ploughing, 2024
Burk's Falls spent about $372 per home on snow ploughing in 2024. The typical similar town spent $93. Only 3 of 54 similar towns spent more.
Found automatically from the town's financial reports · 1 source
2024 tax year · Burk's Falls, Ontario
Enter your home's assessed value to see roughly what you pay in property tax each year, who gets it, and what Burk's Falls's share pays for.
Ontario still uses property values from January 1, 2016 for tax, so your assessed value is probably well below what your home would sell for today.
It is on your property assessment notice from MPAC, and on your tax bill. We filled in the typical value in Burk's Falls.
a year in property tax, at 2024 rates
Burk's Falls council sets only its own share. the Province sets the school rate.
An estimate. It uses the residential tax rate, and splits Burk's Falls's share by what each service cost in 2024 after its own fees and grants (for example, water bills pay for much of a water system). Real bills also depend on your property class, local charges and any rebates.
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Each number links to the public document it came from. Check it yourself.
We ask questions. Every one lists ordinary reasons a number could look odd.
Towns are only compared with places of a similar size and kind, from the same yearly reports.
Council meetings are open to the public, and councillors answer to you. How to reach Burk's Falls' council · Council Books is free and paid for by readers: support this work.