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 Mississauga, and 2025 for 1 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 Mississauga, council remuneration and expense statements

   City of Mississauga · retrieved 2026-10-03

   What each council member was paid, and spent on benefits and expenses, 2024 to 2025. One statement a year; the link is the latest, and the council page links each year.

3. City of Mississauga, budget documents

   City of Mississauga · retrieved 2026-10-01

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

4. City of Mississauga 2026-2029 Business Plan & 2026 Budget

   City of Mississauga · retrieved 2026-10-03

   The adopted 2026 budget and 2026 to 2029 business plan (335 pages), with the four-year operating forecast and ten-year capital plan.

5. City of Mississauga 2025 Consolidated Financial Statements

   City of Mississauga (auditor: Deloitte LLP) · retrieved 2026-10-03

   Audited consolidated financial statements for 2025; the auditor’s opinion is clean ("present fairly").

6. 2025 Statement of Remuneration and Expenses, Members of Council and Committees

   City of Mississauga · retrieved 2026-10-03

   What each member of council was paid and reimbursed in 2025 (Municipal Act s. 284).

7. 2024 Statement of Remuneration and Expenses, Members of Council and Committees

   City of Mississauga · retrieved 2026-10-03

   The same statement for 2024.

8. Region of Peel Dissolution Update, General Committee, November 15, 2023 (item 10.3)

   City Manager and CAO, City of Mississauga · retrieved 2026-10-03

   The city’s own November 2023 report on Peel’s planned dissolution.

9. Environmental Registry of Ontario notice 025-0570 (decision posted December 23, 2025)

   Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing (Ontario) · retrieved 2026-10-03

   The Province’s decision to move regional roads and waste collection from Peel to the three cities.

10. Peel Region news release, June 11, 2024

    Region of Peel · retrieved 2026-10-03

    Release confirming Bill 185 means Peel will not be dissolved.

11. City of Mississauga, Council recap March 11, 2026

    City of Mississauga · retrieved 2026-10-03

    Council’s decision on options for value-for-money audits.

12. City of Mississauga, Council recap September 29, 2026

    City of Mississauga · retrieved 2026-10-03

    Council’s mid-year financial report (a $39.6 million forecast deficit before reserves) and the fraud and waste hotline plan.

13. Internal Audit Charter, By-law 0065-2013 (amended by By-laws 0048-2024, 0224-2024)

    City of Mississauga · retrieved 2026-10-03

    The Internal Audit Charter.

14. 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 1 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.