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 Mattawa, and 2025 for 18 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. Town of Mattawa, budget documents

   Town of Mattawa · retrieved 2026-10-01

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

3. Consolidated Financial Statements, December 31, 2025 (Baker Tilly SNT LLP, April 27, 2026)

   Town of Mattawa (auditor: Baker Tilly SNT LLP) · retrieved 2026-10-07

   Audited statements for 2025, 33 PDF pages. Clean opinion. Read with the raw text layer, where labels and numbers share a line.

4. Financial Statements, December 31, 2024 (Baker Tilly SNT LLP, June 16, 2025)

   Town of Mattawa (auditor: Baker Tilly SNT LLP) · retrieved 2026-10-07

   Audited statements for 2024. Used only for the auditor's report date; 2024 figures come from the restated column in the 2025 statements.

5. Committee of the Whole agenda package, April 20, 2026 (Report 26-20R, 2026 Municipal Operating and Capital Budget)

   Town of Mattawa · retrieved 2026-10-07

   The 2026 draft budget report, risks and appendices. 31 PDF pages.

6. Regular Council agenda package, April 27, 2026

   Town of Mattawa · retrieved 2026-10-07

   Includes staff's variance table for the 2025 statements and the minutes of the April 13, 2026 meeting. 151 PDF pages.

7. Regular Council agenda package, May 25, 2026

   Town of Mattawa · retrieved 2026-10-07

   Includes the minutes of the May 19, 2026 meeting. 45 PDF pages.

8. Regular Council agenda package, June 8, 2026

   Town of Mattawa · retrieved 2026-10-07

   Includes the minutes of the May 25, 2026 meeting and Report 26-26R on a line of credit. 114 PDF pages.

9. Regular Council minutes, June 8, 2026

   Town of Mattawa · retrieved 2026-10-07

   Adopted minutes of the June 8, 2026 meeting, 5 PDF pages.

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 18 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.