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 Hilton Beach, and 2025 for 4 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. Village of Hilton Beach, budget documents

   Village of Hilton Beach · retrieved 2026-10-01

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

3. Village of Hilton Beach, Consolidated Financial Statements, December 31, 2025 (BDO Canada LLP, June 25, 2026)

   Village of Hilton Beach (auditor: BDO Canada LLP) · retrieved 2026-10-07

   Audited statements for 2025 with 2024 comparatives. Qualified opinion. The statements, notes and schedules read cleanly as text; the management's responsibility page and the statement of financial position have no text layer, so we did not use them.

4. 2026 Budget Summary (spreadsheet)

   Village of Hilton Beach · retrieved 2026-10-07

   Revenue and expense totals by line for 2026.

5. 2025 Budget Summary for Tax Rate By-law (spreadsheet)

   Village of Hilton Beach · retrieved 2026-10-07

   Revenue and expense totals by line for 2025.

6. Minutes of the special council meeting, June 25, 2026 (2025 audit presentation)

   Village of Hilton Beach · retrieved 2026-10-07

   The auditor's presentation of the 2025 audit and council's adoption of the statements.

7. Minutes of the special council meeting, June 17, 2026 (landfill)

   Village of Hilton Beach · retrieved 2026-10-07

   Council's review of landfill use and costs ahead of a joint committee meeting with the Township of Hilton.

8. Minutes of the council meeting, June 11, 2025

   Village of Hilton Beach · retrieved 2026-10-07

   The auditor's summary of the Village's Asset Management Plan; passing of the 2025 estimates and tax-rate by-law.

9. Minutes of the council meeting, May 29, 2025 (budget)

   Village of Hilton Beach · retrieved 2026-10-07

   2025 budget deliberations: the tax-rate increase, landfill work and audit costs.

10. 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 single-tier municipalities with 60% to 160% of this population that had filed their 2025 return, in 2025. This gives 4 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.