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 2022 for Hamilton, and 2022 for 1 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 Hamilton, budget documents

   City of Hamilton · retrieved 2026-10-01

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

3. 2026 Budget and Financing Plan (adopted)

   City of Hamilton · retrieved 2026-10-03

   The adopted 2026 tax and water budget, with debt, reserves and departmental summaries (394 pages).

4. 2025 Budget and Financing Plan (approved)

   City of Hamilton · retrieved 2026-10-03

   The approved 2025 tax and rate budget, with capital lines for the cyber rebuild (433 pages).

5. Build Better: Strengthening Services & Systems

   City of Hamilton · retrieved 2026-10-03

   The city's page on the cyber rebuild: 21 projects, spending to date and report links.

6. News release: more incident details, including ransom amount (July 30, 2025)

   City of Hamilton · retrieved 2026-10-03

   Cost to June 30, 2025, the ransom demand and the denied insurance claim.

7. News release: Auditor General completes Cyber Security Follow Up Audit (October 2, 2025)

   City of Hamilton · retrieved 2026-10-03

   Summary of the pre-breach analysis of the 2021 cyber audit.

8. Report of the Red Hill Valley Parkway Inquiry, Volume 1: Executive Summary

   Red Hill Valley Parkway Inquiry (the Honourable Mr. Justice H. J. Wilton-Siegel) · retrieved 2026-10-03

   The judge's summary findings and recommendations (November 29, 2023).

9. Report of the Red Hill Valley Parkway Inquiry, Volume 2

   Red Hill Valley Parkway Inquiry · retrieved 2026-10-03

   Chapters 9 to 13, including the inquiry process and the privilege dispute (524 pages).

10. City Progress on Recommendations (Red Hill Valley Parkway inquiry)

    City of Hamilton · retrieved 2026-10-03

    The city's table of in-progress and completed action items (May 2026).

11. News release: Auditor General findings on leases and licences (September 19, 2024)

    City of Hamilton · retrieved 2026-10-03

    Arrears of about $1.2 million and 35 recommendations.

12. News release: Auditor General releases audit of HR investigations (August 6, 2026)

    City of Hamilton · retrieved 2026-10-03

    Summary of the audit of the city's HR investigations process.

13. News release: Auditor General completes audit of temporary shelters (February 10, 2026)

    City of Hamilton · retrieved 2026-10-03

    Summary of the Barton-Tiffany temporary shelter audit.

14. News release: 2025 Fraud and Waste Annual Report (November 13, 2025)

    City of Hamilton · retrieved 2026-10-03

    Hotline volumes, recoveries and staff conflict-of-interest cases.

15. 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 2022 return, in 2022. This gives 1 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.