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 Edwardsburgh-Cardinal, and 2024 for 82 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 Edwardsburgh-Cardinal, budget documents

   Township of Edwardsburgh-Cardinal · retrieved 2026-10-01

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

3. Corporation of the Township of Edwardsburgh/Cardinal, Consolidated Financial Statements, December 31, 2025 (MNP LLP, May 25, 2026)

   Township of Edwardsburgh/Cardinal (auditor: MNP LLP) · retrieved 2026-10-05

   Audited statements for 2025 with 2024 comparison figures. Clean opinion dated May 25, 2026. 27 PDF pages. The Township lists this file as "2025 Financial Statements".

4. 2026 Final Approved Budget (budget book)

   Township of Edwardsburgh/Cardinal · retrieved 2026-10-05

   A one-page table with 2023 and 2024 actuals, the 2024 and 2025 council-approved budgets, 2025 actuals and the 2026 column, with a note beside some lines. Its last column is headed "1 Dept Submission", so we used only its 2025 and earlier columns and the notes.

5. 2025 Final Approved Budget (budget book)

   Township of Edwardsburgh/Cardinal · retrieved 2026-10-05

   The same one-page table a year earlier, prepared by the treasurer on March 27, 2025. Its last column is also headed "1 Dept Submission" and some 2025 amounts differ from the council-approved 2025 column in the 2026 book, so we used only its notes and 2024 and earlier columns.

6. 2026 Budget Summary

   Township of Edwardsburgh/Cardinal · retrieved 2026-10-05

   A short slide summary prepared for the Committee of the Whole. We read it for context and did not cite its figures.

7. 2026 Pre-Budget Presentation

   Township of Edwardsburgh/Cardinal · retrieved 2026-10-05

   Read for context. It did not mention the Port of Johnstown, wages or the 2025 results.

8. Council Remuneration and Expenses as of December 31, 2024 (Municipal Act s. 284)

   Township of Edwardsburgh/Cardinal · retrieved 2026-10-05

   Opened, not used. The table prints with scrambled columns and many blank cells, so we could not match every figure to its column with confidence.

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 2024 return, in 2024. This gives 82 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.