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 2024 for Limerick, and 2024 for 2 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 Limerick, budget documents

   Township of Limerick · retrieved 2026-10-01

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

3. Corporation of the Township of Limerick, Consolidated Financial Statements, December 31, 2023 (Baker Tilly KDN LLP, June 20, 2024)

   Township of Limerick (auditor: Baker Tilly KDN LLP) · retrieved 2026-10-07

   Audited statements for 2023, with a clean opinion. 30 PDF pages.

4. Council agenda, June 16, 2025 (includes the Financial Statements, December 31, 2024)

   Township of Limerick (auditor: Baker Tilly KDN LLP) · retrieved 2026-10-07

   188-page agenda package. The 2024 statements are on PDF pages 23 to 50, with an auditor's report dated June 16, 2025.

5. Council minutes, June 16, 2025

   Township of Limerick · retrieved 2026-10-07

   Minutes of the meeting at which the 2024 audit was presented.

6. Special Council Meeting, Budget 2025, agenda (March 17, 2025)

   Township of Limerick · retrieved 2026-10-07

   The 2025 budget slides: 2024 budget against actual by department, reserves, levy.

7. Special Council Meeting, Budget 2026, agenda (March 24, 2026)

   Township of Limerick · retrieved 2026-10-07

   The first draft of the 2026 budget slides.

8. Special Council Meeting, Budget 2026, minutes (March 24, 2026)

   Township of Limerick · retrieved 2026-10-07

   Two pages. Records the direction to staff on the budget.

9. Council agenda, April 20, 2026

   Township of Limerick · retrieved 2026-10-07

   124-page package with the second version of the 2026 budget slides (PDF pages 74 to 92).

10. Council agenda, May 20, 2026

    Township of Limerick · retrieved 2026-10-07

    68-page package with the final 2026 budget summary and By-Law 2026-10 (taxation rates).

11. Council minutes, May 20, 2026 (draft)

    Township of Limerick · retrieved 2026-10-07

    Minutes that record the final reading of the 2026 tax rates by-law.

12. Council agenda, September 21, 2026 (includes the draft Financial Statements, December 31, 2025)

    Township of Limerick (auditor: Baker Tilly KDN LLP) · retrieved 2026-10-07

    178-page package. The 2025 statements are marked draft. Read for context only; no finding rests on them.

13. 2023 Operating Budget

    Township of Limerick · retrieved 2026-10-07

    The only budget file on the Budgets & Reports page. Seven pages, headed as a draft. Not used for figures.

14. Budgets & Reports (web page)

    Township of Limerick · retrieved 2026-10-07

    The page that lists the statements and budget files.

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 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 2024 return, in 2024. This gives 2 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.