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 Drummond-North Elmsley, and 2025 for 41 similar towns. Figures are what the municipality reported to the Province for each year, prepared on the same basis as its audited financial statements.

2. Township of Drummond-North Elmsley, budget documents

   Township of Drummond-North Elmsley · retrieved 2026-10-01

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

3. 2026 Draft Budget and Proposed Fee Amendments, public meeting slides, December 2nd, 2025

   Township of Drummond/North Elmsley · retrieved 2026-10-14

   27 slides: draft levy, tax impact, capital programs, reserves and debt. A draft, shown on December 2, 2025; the slides give December 9 as the day of proposed adoption.

4. Report FIN-2026-05, 2025 Development Charges Statement (Committee of the Whole, April 7, 2026)

   Township of Drummond/North Elmsley · retrieved 2026-10-14

   The yearly statement of the development charge reserve for 2025. 7 PDF pages.

5. Report FIN-2025-07, Development Charges Annual Indexing (Committee of the Whole, February 25, 2025)

   Township of Drummond/North Elmsley · retrieved 2026-10-14

   A staff recommendation to index development charges each January. Listed on the Township's page as the 2024 statement. 2 PDF pages.

6. Report FIN-2024-01, 2023 Development Charges (Committee of the Whole, February 13, 2024)

   Township of Drummond/North Elmsley · retrieved 2026-10-14

   The yearly statement of the development charge reserve for 2023. 3 PDF pages.

7. Financial Systems and Processes Review, Final Report, November 29, 2020 (WSCS Consulting Incorporated)

   Township of Drummond/North Elmsley (consultant's report) · retrieved 2026-10-14

   An outside review of the Township's financial processes and software. 86 PDF pages.

8. Integrity Commissioner Services, Annual Reports for 2025 and 2024

   Integrity Commissioner for the Township · retrieved 2026-10-14

   Each says no advice was requested and no complaints were made in the year. The 2024 report is at https://www.dnetownship.ca/images/25-05-13_-_Integrity_Commissioner_Services_-_2024_Annual_Report.pdf.

9. 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 town 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 town reported to the Province for that year.

Similar towns

Ontario lower-tier municipalities with 60% to 160% of this population that had filed their 2025 return, in 2025. This gives 41 towns. "Typical" means the median: half of similar towns are above it and half below. The size limits are a judgement call; moving them a little adds or drops a few towns, so treat small differences in rank as noise. Per-home figures use the household counts each town reports to the Province. Towns 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 towns; when a measure of money health is worse than 80% of similar towns; or when a one-year tax increase is higher than 80% of similar towns and well above inflation. "Needs an answer" means worse than 90% of similar towns. When there are fewer than 20 similar towns, 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 town'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.