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 Minden Hills, and 2024 for 81 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 Minden Hills, budget documents

   Township of Minden Hills · retrieved 2026-10-01

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

3. The Corporation of the Township of Minden Hills, Consolidated Financial Statements, December 31, 2023 (KPMG LLP, January 29, 2025)

   Township of Minden Hills (auditor: KPMG LLP) · retrieved 2026-10-05

   Audited statements for 2023, the latest posted. Clean opinion ("present fairly"). 31 PDF pages.

4. The Corporation of the Township of Minden Hills, Consolidated Financial Statements, December 31, 2022 (KPMG LLP, December 18, 2023)

   Township of Minden Hills (auditor: KPMG LLP) · retrieved 2026-10-05

   Audited statements for 2022. Used only for the date of the auditor's report. 25 PDF pages.

5. 2024 Operating Budget Summary, March 26, 2024

   Township of Minden Hills · retrieved 2026-10-05

   Tax supported budget summary, 12 PDF pages. Only the page 1 tax levy figures are used.

6. 2025 Operating Budget (revised February 4, 2025) and 2025 Tax Supported Budget capital summary

   Township of Minden Hills · retrieved 2026-10-05

   31 PDF pages. Pages 2 to 30 are pictures with no readable text and were not used. Pages 1 and 31 have readable text.

7. Strong Mayor Powers (Township web page, with the Mayor's statement on the 2026 budget)

   Township of Minden Hills · retrieved 2026-10-05

   The Mayor's statement on amendments to the 2026 budget and a list of mayoral decisions. The linked decision documents are scanned pictures and were not read.

8. Notice of Special Meeting - Council Override for 2026 Mayoral Budget (January 23, 2026)

   Township of Minden Hills · retrieved 2026-10-05

   Public notice of a special council meeting on January 29, 2026.

9. Annual Budget (Township web page, 2026 capital highlights)

   Township of Minden Hills · retrieved 2026-10-05

   A summary of the 2026 budget and links to older budgets.

10. Minden Pedestrian Crossover (Township web page)

    Township of Minden Hills · retrieved 2026-10-05

    A project page that says Council approved a pedestrian crossover during the 2026 budget deliberations.

11. 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 81 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.