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 Essa, and 2025 for 26 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 Essa, budget documents

   Township of Essa · retrieved 2026-10-01

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

3. Township of Essa, 2026 Approved Budget (operating, 64 pages, January 6, 2026)

   Township of Essa · retrieved 2026-10-05

   Line-by-line operating budget with 2025 actual, 2025 budget and 2026 budget columns. Linked on the Township's page as the 2026 capital budget.

4. Township of Essa, 2026 Approved Capital Budget Summary (January 14, 2026)

   Township of Essa · retrieved 2026-10-05

   11-page capital summary with funding sources for each project. Linked on the Township's page as the 2026 operating budget.

5. Township of Essa, 2025 Approved Budget (operating, December 2024)

   Township of Essa · retrieved 2026-10-05

   Operating budget with 2024 actual, 2024 budget and 2025 budget columns.

6. Corporation of the Township of Essa, Consolidated Financial Statements, December 31, 2024 (Baker Tilly KDN LLP, July 7, 2025)

   Township of Essa (auditor: Baker Tilly KDN LLP) · retrieved 2026-10-05

   Audited statements for 2024 with the library board and Angus BIA statements. 50 PDF pages. Clean opinion for the Township.

7. Township of Essa, 2025 Asset Management Plan

   Township of Essa · retrieved 2026-10-05

   177-page plan with what the Township's assets need each year and what it sets aside.

8. Integrity Commissioner Annual Report, January 1 to December 31, 2025 (May 25, 2026)

   Office of the Integrity Commissioner (ADR Chambers) · retrieved 2026-10-05

   Two-page letter to the Township.

9. Integrity Commissioner Annual Report, January 1 to December 31, 2024 (July 3, 2025)

   Office of the Integrity Commissioner (ADR Chambers) · retrieved 2026-10-05

   Two-page letter to the Township.

10. Integrity Commissioner's Annual Report, June 2023 (Principles Integrity)

    Principles Integrity · retrieved 2026-10-05

    Eight-page annual report covering May 31, 2022 to June 1, 2023.

11. Council agendas, 2025 and 2026 (Council, Committee of the Whole, consent and special budget meetings)

    Township of Essa · retrieved 2026-10-05

    81 agenda PDFs read for closed-session items, the speed camera program, the new joint facility and the Treasurer's remuneration statement.

12. 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 26 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.