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 Greater Sudbury, and 2025 for 4 similar places. Figures are what the municipality reported to the Province for each year, prepared on the same basis as its audited financial statements.

2. City of Greater Sudbury, council remuneration and expense statements

   City of Greater Sudbury · retrieved 2026-10-05

   What each council member was paid, and spent on benefits and expenses, 2024 to 2025. One statement a year; the link is the latest, and the council page links each year.

3. City of Greater Sudbury, budget documents

   City of Greater Sudbury · retrieved 2026-10-01

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

4. City of Greater Sudbury 2025 Consolidated Financial Statements

   City of Greater Sudbury (auditor: KPMG LLP) · retrieved 2026-10-05

   Audited statements for 2025, 42 pages. The opinion is clean and is dated July 27, 2026.

5. City of Greater Sudbury 2024 Consolidated Financial Statements

   City of Greater Sudbury (auditor: KPMG LLP) · retrieved 2026-10-05

   Audited statements for 2024, 39 pages. Opinion dated July 30, 2025. Used for the auditor’s report date only.

6. Greater Sudbury Utilities Inc. 2025 Consolidated Financial Statements

   Greater Sudbury Utilities Inc. · retrieved 2026-10-05

   Audited statements of the City’s wholly owned electricity company, posted on the City’s site.

7. 2026-2027 Budget (proposed budget document)

   City of Greater Sudbury · retrieved 2026-10-05

   The draft two-year budget tabled on November 4, 2025 (496 pages).

8. 2026 Budget Adoption

   City of Greater Sudbury · retrieved 2026-10-05

   Nine-page summary of the budget as adopted on December 3, 2025, with the list of changes from the draft.

9. 2026-2027 Budget Questions and Answers (November 20, 2025)

   City of Greater Sudbury · retrieved 2026-10-05

   Staff answers to councillors’ questions during budget deliberations.

10. City Approves 2026 Budget (news release, December 3, 2025)

    City of Greater Sudbury · retrieved 2026-10-05

    The City’s own summary of the adopted 2026 budget.

11. 2025 Year End Council Expense Report

    City of Greater Sudbury, Treasurer · retrieved 2026-10-05

    Pay, benefits and office expenses for each member of council in 2025 (Municipal Act s. 284).

12. 2024 Year End Council Expense Report

    City of Greater Sudbury, Treasurer · retrieved 2026-10-05

    The same statement for 2024.

13. Auditor General, Status Report on Audit Recommendations (May 31, 2025)

    Auditor General, City of Greater Sudbury · retrieved 2026-10-05

    Status of 75 management action plans from earlier audits (113 pages).

14. Auditor General, Performance Audit of Capital Project Management and Procurement Processes

    Auditor General, City of Greater Sudbury · retrieved 2026-10-05

    Audit presented to the Audit Committee on March 18, 2025 (10 pages).

15. Integrity Commissioner page

    City of Greater Sudbury · retrieved 2026-10-05

    Role of the commissioner, yearly costs for 2023 to the second quarter of 2026, and the current appointment.

16. 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 city 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 city reported to the Province for that year.

Similar places

Ontario single-tier municipalities with 60% to 160% of this population that had filed their 2025 return, in 2025. This gives 4 places. "Typical" means the median: half of similar places are above it and half below. The size limits are a judgement call; moving them a little adds or drops a few places, so treat small differences in rank as noise. Per-home figures use the household counts each city reports to the Province. Places 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 places; when a measure of money health is worse than 80% of similar places; or when a one-year tax increase is higher than 80% of similar places and well above inflation. "Needs an answer" means worse than 90% of similar places. When there are fewer than 20 similar places, 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 city'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.