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 Melancthon, and 2025 for 29 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 Melancthon, budget documents

   Township of Melancthon · retrieved 2026-10-01

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

3. Township of Melancthon, Consolidated Financial Statements, December 31, 2025 (Guelph auditors' report June 18, 2026)

   Township of Melancthon · retrieved 2026-10-07

   Audited statements for 2025 with a clean opinion ("present fairly"). Used for the cash, loans, taxes, reserves, wind and other contributions, and landfill notes.

4. Township of Melancthon, Consolidated Financial Statements, December 31, 2024 (auditors' report June 19, 2025)

   Township of Melancthon · retrieved 2026-10-07

   Audited statements for 2024, used for the year-before figures and the 2024 approved budget.

5. Township of Melancthon, Final 2026 Budget (March 5th, 2026)

   Township of Melancthon · retrieved 2026-10-07

   The 2026 budget book, 9 PDF pages. Only the department summary on page 1 and the council salary line were used, because the detail tables do not line up in the text layer.

6. 2025 Council & Committee Remuneration Report (Municipal Act s. 284)

   Township of Melancthon · retrieved 2026-10-07

   The yearly pay and expenses statement. Only the council totals line was used.

7. Council Minutes, March 5, 2026

   Township of Melancthon · retrieved 2026-10-07

   Minutes of the public budget meeting. Used for the 7th Line funding decision.

8. Strada Aggregates (planning applications page)

   Township of Melancthon · retrieved 2026-10-07

   The Township's notice that Council hired outside peer reviewers for a proposed quarry application.

9. 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 29 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.