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 Hastings Highlands, and 2025 for 28 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. Municipality of Hastings Highlands, council remuneration and expense statements

   Municipality of Hastings Highlands · retrieved 2026-10-01

   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. Municipality of Hastings Highlands, budget documents

   Municipality of Hastings Highlands · retrieved 2026-10-01

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

4. Consolidated Financial Statements, 2025 (audited)

   Municipality of Hastings Highlands and Baker Tilly KDN LLP · retrieved 2026-10-01

   Audited statements signed April 17, 2026, with net debt, reserves and the asset retirement (landfill closing) note. Used for the net debt, landfill and waste figures.

5. Consolidated Financial Statements, 2024, 2023 and 2022 (audited)

   Municipality of Hastings Highlands and Baker Tilly KDN LLP · retrieved 2026-10-01

   The 2024 statements are linked. The 2023 (media/ovpolhqx/hastings-highlands-2023-fs-final.pdf) and 2022 (media/vhwpjafd/municipality-of-hastings-highlands-2022-financial-statements.pdf) statements are in the same folder. Used for net financial assets by year, the 2024 landfill estimate change, and the dates the auditor signed.

6. 2026 Approved Operating Budget Summary

   Municipality of Hastings Highlands · retrieved 2026-10-01

   2025 budget, 2025 actuals (unaudited) and 2026 budget for every account. Used for the council, waste and recycling lines and the tax levy.

7. 2025 Approved Operating Budget Summary

   Municipality of Hastings Highlands · retrieved 2026-10-01

   2024 budget, 2024 actuals (unaudited) and 2025 budget for every account.

8. Special Meeting of Council agenda, February 25, 2026 (2026 draft operating budget)

   Municipality of Hastings Highlands · retrieved 2026-10-01

   The first-reading budget deck, with a short note on why each department changed, and the report on expenses left out of the budget (Ontario Regulation 284/09).

9. Special Meeting of Council agenda, February 26, 2025 (2025 draft operating budget)

   Municipality of Hastings Highlands · retrieved 2026-10-01

   The 2025 version of the Ontario Regulation 284/09 report, which gives the landfill closing cost left out of the 2025 budget.

10. Regular Meeting of Council agenda, March 18, 2026

    Municipality of Hastings Highlands · retrieved 2026-10-01

    Includes the 2025 Statement of Remuneration and Expenses for council (pages 113 to 115).

11. Regular Meeting of Council agenda, February 19, 2025

    Municipality of Hastings Highlands · retrieved 2026-10-01

    Includes the 2024 Statement of Remuneration and Expenses (pages 116 to 118) and the Ombudsman’s January 23, 2025 letter about the Integrity Commissioner (pages 250 to 252).

12. Regular Meeting of Council agendas, December 17, 2025 and April 15, 2026

    Municipality of Hastings Highlands · retrieved 2026-10-01

    April 15, 2026 (pages 36 to 38) has the report awarding the Highway 62 design contract. The December 17, 2025 agenda (document 168234, pages 117 to 119) has the report asking council to waive the usual open competition.

13. Regular Meeting of Council agenda, May 20, 2026 (draft minutes of April 15, 2026)

    Municipality of Hastings Highlands · retrieved 2026-10-01

    Pages 11 to 26 are the draft minutes of the April 15, 2026 meeting, including the Mayor’s declared interest and the vote to award the design contract.

14. 2025 Asset Management Plan

    Municipality of Hastings Highlands · retrieved 2026-10-01

    What the town owns, what it would cost to replace, and the yearly funding gap.

15. Regular Meeting of Council agenda, November 19, 2025 (Blue Box Depot Operations Agreement)

    Municipality of Hastings Highlands · retrieved 2026-10-01

    Pages 266 to 268 explain the move of recycling to producers and the $240,000 a year the producers’ organization will pay for depot operation.

16. Council Remuneration Bylaw 2023-081

    Municipality of Hastings Highlands · retrieved 2026-10-01

    Sets the yearly pay for the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and councillors.

17. Integrity Commissioner annual reports 2023 to 2025 and report of May 30, 2023

    Cunningham Swan Carty Little & Bonham LLP for the Municipality · retrieved 2026-10-01

    Yearly counts of advice requests and complaints, with costs for 2023 and 2024, and a Code of Conduct investigation report.

18. Public Registry – Council & Committee Pecuniary Interest

    Municipality of Hastings Highlands · retrieved 2026-10-01

    Declared conflicts of interest from January 18, 2023 to September 16, 2026.

19. Bids and Tenders (2025 and 2026 results)

    Municipality of Hastings Highlands · retrieved 2026-10-01

    Winning bidders and amounts for tenders and proposals.

20. 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 28 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.