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 Markham, and 2025 for 4 similar places. Figures are what the municipality reported to the Province for each year, prepared on the same basis as its audited financial statements.

2. City of Markham, council remuneration and expense statements

   City of Markham · retrieved 2026-10-03

   What each council member was paid, and spent on benefits and expenses, 2023 to 2025. One statement a year; the link is the latest, and the council page links each year.

3. City of Markham, budget documents

   City of Markham · retrieved 2026-10-01

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

4. Markham 2025 Annual Report (audited consolidated financial statements, KPMG LLP opinion dated April 28, 2026)

   City of Markham (auditor: KPMG LLP) · retrieved 2026-10-03

   Audited consolidated statements for 2025 (60 PDF pages), financial review and notes.

5. Markham 2024 Annual Report (audited consolidated financial statements)

   City of Markham · retrieved 2026-10-03

   Used for the 2023 and 2024 reserve balances.

6. Markham Racing Forward: Budget 2026 (budget book summary)

   City of Markham · retrieved 2026-10-03

   The 2026 budget summary (16 pages).

7. Markham Racing Forward: Budget 2026, Exhibit 1, Operating Budget

   City of Markham · retrieved 2026-10-03

   The 2026 full operating budget in three pages.

8. Budget 2025: A Markham Milestone (full budget book)

   City of Markham · retrieved 2026-10-03

   The 2025 budget book (475 PDF pages).

9. City of Markham 2025 Corporate Asset Management Plan and Financial Strategy (October 17, 2025)

   City of Markham · retrieved 2026-10-03

   The 2025 asset management plan and funding strategy (495 PDF pages).

10. Auditor General (MNP LLP) Asset Management Audit, October 7, 2019

    MNP LLP, Auditor General · retrieved 2026-10-03

    Audit of the 2016 asset management plan, with management responses.

11. Report to General Committee, October 19, 2020: Asset Management Plan Progress Update - Revised

    City staff · retrieved 2026-10-03

    First yearly update to council on the 2019 audit.

12. Integrity Commissioner annual report, July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025 (dated January 26, 2026)

    ADR Chambers Inc., Integrity Commissioner · retrieved 2026-10-03

    Yearly report (2 pages).

13. Integrity Commissioner annual report, July 1, 2023 to June 30, 2024 (dated February 24, 2025)

    ADR Chambers Inc., Integrity Commissioner · retrieved 2026-10-03

    Yearly report (2 pages).

14. Integrity Commissioner annual report, July 1, 2022 to June 30, 2023

    ADR Chambers Inc., Integrity Commissioner · retrieved 2026-10-03

    Yearly report (3 pages).

15. Summary of Remuneration and Expenses for Mayor and Council, year ended December 31, 2025

    City of Markham · retrieved 2026-10-03

    Council pay and expenses for 2025 (1 page).

16. Summary of Remuneration and Expenses for Mayor and Council, year ended December 31, 2024

    City of Markham · retrieved 2026-10-03

    Council pay and expenses for 2024 (1 page).

17. Summary of Remuneration and Expenses for Mayor and Council, year ended December 31, 2023

    City of Markham · retrieved 2026-10-03

    Council pay and expenses for 2023 (1 page).

18. Mayoral Decision MDC-2026-01, March 11, 2026 (veto of By-laws 2026-32 and 2026-33)

    Mayor of Markham · retrieved 2026-10-03

    A one-page scanned letter.

19. 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 city 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 city reported to the Province for that year.

Similar places

Ontario lower-tier municipalities with 60% to 160% of this population that had filed their 2025 return, in 2025. This gives 4 places. "Typical" means the median: half of similar places are above it and half below. The size limits are a judgement call; moving them a little adds or drops a few places, so treat small differences in rank as noise. Per-home figures use the household counts each city reports to the Province. Places 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 places; when a measure of money health is worse than 80% of similar places; or when a one-year tax increase is higher than 80% of similar places and well above inflation. "Needs an answer" means worse than 90% of similar places. When there are fewer than 20 similar places, 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 city'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.