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 Horton, 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. Township of Horton, budget documents

   Township of Horton · retrieved 2026-10-01

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

3. Council package, July 22, 2025 (includes the draft 2024 financial statements, auditor MacKillican & Associates)

   Township of Horton · retrieved 2026-10-07

   Draft 2024 statements start at PDF page 159. Clean audit opinion text. Date line prints only "2025.".

4. Council package, February 10, 2026 (2026 budget report, Ontario Regulation 284/09 report, January 13, 2026 minutes)

   Township of Horton · retrieved 2026-10-07

   The adopted-levy report and the PSAB (amortization and reserves) report for 2026.

5. Council package, February 24, 2026 (budget adoption, public budget meeting minutes)

   Township of Horton · retrieved 2026-10-07

   Resolution adopting the 2026 budget and the minutes of the February 10, 2026 public budget meeting.

6. Council package, March 4, 2025 (2025 budget report, 2024 council pay statement)

   Township of Horton · retrieved 2026-10-07

   The 2025 levy, the 2025 Ontario Regulation 284/09 report and the 2024 statement of council pay.

7. Public Budget Meeting package, February 10, 2026 (2026 budget presentation)

   Township of Horton · retrieved 2026-10-07

   The slide deck shown to the public. Only lines whose label and number sit together were used.

8. Council package, May 26, 2026 (fire tanker award)

   Township of Horton · retrieved 2026-10-07

   Staff report on the tanker bids and the budget set aside for it.

9. Minutes of Council, July 22, 2025

   Township of Horton · retrieved 2026-10-07

   The auditor presents the draft 2024 statements; council approves them.

10. Minutes of Council, July 28, 2026

    Township of Horton · retrieved 2026-10-07

    The auditor presents the draft 2025 statements; council approves them.

11. Minutes of Special Council, August 26, 2025

    Township of Horton · retrieved 2026-10-07

    Closed session record.

12. Integrity Commissioner Annual Report 2024

    Township of Horton's Integrity Commissioner · retrieved 2026-10-07

    No complaints, no requests for advice, costs of $0.

13. 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.