Council BooksJocelynOntarioSign inSubscribe
Not the full picture. Built from public records, which leave things out.Older reportDetailsThis is built from public records, which leave a lot out, and some of it may be wrong or out of date. Check the sources, and tell us if you spot a mistake. What this site can't tell you
An older report. We have no 2024 report for Jocelyn in the Province's latest release, so these pages use its 2023 report. It may simply be filed late.
Read by hand. We read Jocelyn's own documents for this site in October 2026; the Sources page lists which ones. The comparisons with other places still come from the Province's yearly reports.

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 2023 for Jocelyn, and 2023 for 22 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 Jocelyn, council remuneration and expense statements

    Township of Jocelyn · retrieved 2026-10-07

    What each council member was paid, and spent on benefits and expenses, 2023 to 2023. One statement a year; the link is the latest, and the council page links each year.

  3. Township of Jocelyn, budget documents

    Township of Jocelyn · retrieved 2026-10-01

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

  4. Township of Jocelyn, Consolidated Financial Statements, December 31, 2023 (BDO Canada LLP, May 27, 2025)

    Township of Jocelyn (auditor: BDO Canada LLP) · retrieved 2026-10-07

    Audited 2023 statements with a qualified opinion. 26 PDF pages; two pages have no readable text and were not used.

  5. Jocelyn Township Budget 2025 (budget file)

    Township of Jocelyn · retrieved 2026-10-07

    2025 budget statements and the 2025 tax-rate schedule to By-law 2025-1653.

  6. Jocelyn Township Budget 2026 (budget file)

    Township of Jocelyn · retrieved 2026-10-07

    2026 budget statements, with 2025 shown beside them.

  7. Special Meeting of Council Minutes, June 30, 2025

    Township of Jocelyn · retrieved 2026-10-07

    Council accepts a proposed 2025 budget and tax increase.

  8. Special Meeting of Council Minutes, July 14, 2025

    Township of Jocelyn · retrieved 2026-10-07

    Council rescinds the June 30 budget motion and accepts a revised 2025 tax by-law.

  9. Meeting Minutes, March 4, 2026

    Township of Jocelyn · retrieved 2026-10-07

    Council adopts the 2026 budget and tax levy.

  10. Meeting Minutes, April 8, 2026

    Township of Jocelyn · retrieved 2026-10-07

    Closed session items.

  11. Special Meeting Minutes, April 29, 2026

    Township of Jocelyn · retrieved 2026-10-07

    Road surface treatment tender, closed session.

  12. Letter from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing to Reeve and Council, December 1, 2023

    Province of Ontario, Municipal Services Office North · retrieved 2026-10-07

    The Province's observations after attending council meetings.

  13. Council and Board member Statement of Remuneration and Expenses, 2023

    Township of Jocelyn · retrieved 2026-10-07

    Wages and travel paid to each member of council in 2023.

  14. 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 2023 return, in 2023. This gives 22 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.