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 Dubreuilville, and 2025 for 19 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 Dubreuilville, council remuneration and expense statements

   Township of Dubreuilville · retrieved 2026-10-07

   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. Township of Dubreuilville, budget documents

   Township of Dubreuilville · retrieved 2026-10-01

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

4. Council agenda package, September 10, 2025 (includes the 2024 consolidated financial statements, BDO Canada LLP)

   Township of Dubreuilville (auditor: BDO Canada LLP) · retrieved 2026-10-07

   2024 consolidated statements with a qualified opinion dated July 31, 2025. Pages 17 to 31 are the auditor's report, the statements and notes. 97 PDF pages.

5. Council agenda package, August 26, 2026 (generator replacement report)

   Township of Dubreuilville · retrieved 2026-10-07

   Staff report dated August 19, 2026 on the emergency generator project, with bids and funding options. Pages 186 to 188.

6. Council agenda package, January 14, 2026 (Statement of Remuneration and Expenses for 2025)

   Township of Dubreuilville · retrieved 2026-10-07

   The section 284 statement for council pay and expenses paid in 2025. Page 43.

7. By-Law No. 2026-16, estimates and tax rates for 2026

   Township of Dubreuilville · retrieved 2026-10-07

   Sets the amount to be raised by property tax in 2026.

8. By-Law No. 2025-23, estimates and tax rates for 2025

   Township of Dubreuilville · retrieved 2026-10-07

   Sets the amount to be raised by property tax in 2025.

9. 2026 Municipal Budget (23 pages)

   Township of Dubreuilville · retrieved 2026-10-07

   Account-by-account budget updated April 21, 2026. Not used for figures: names and amounts are not on the same lines.

10. 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 single-tier municipalities with 60% to 160% of this population that had filed their 2025 return, in 2025. This gives 19 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.