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 Neebing, and 2024 for 26 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. Municipality of Neebing, budget documents

   Municipality of Neebing · retrieved 2026-10-01

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

3. The Corporation of the Municipality of Neebing, Financial Statements, December 31, 2025 (MNP LLP, May 20, 2026)

   Municipality of Neebing (auditor: MNP LLP) · retrieved 2026-10-07

   Audited statements for 2025 with 2024 comparatives. Clean opinion. 27 PDF pages.

4. The Corporation of the Municipality of Neebing, Financial Statements, December 31, 2024 (MNP LLP, May 21, 2025)

   Municipality of Neebing (auditor: MNP LLP) · retrieved 2026-10-07

   Audited statements for 2024. Read to check that the 2024 figures in the 2025 statements match.

5. 2025 Budget, By-Law 2025-023 (passed May 21, 2025)

   Municipality of Neebing · retrieved 2026-10-07

   The 2025 budget by account. 7 PDF pages.

6. Budget Estimates for 2026, Schedule A to By-Law 2026-024

   Municipality of Neebing · retrieved 2026-10-07

   The 2026 budget by account. 8 PDF pages. The file does not print the date it passed.

7. Administrative Report: Reserve Fund Distribution (May 25, 2026, for the June 3, 2026 meeting)

   Municipality of Neebing (staff report to Council) · retrieved 2026-10-07

   Reserve balances at December 31, 2025, the history and plan for the rate stabilization reserve, and the 2035 balances in the capital plan. We used pages 1 to 6. Later pages are attachments, mostly pictures of tables, which we did not use.

8. Administrative Report: Updated Capital Plan (December 12, 2025, for the December 17, 2025 meeting)

   Municipality of Neebing (staff report to Council) · retrieved 2026-10-07

   The 2026 to 2035 capital plan report, including the fire bay estimate and the assumed yearly tax increase.

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 single-tier municipalities with 60% to 160% of this population that had filed their 2024 return, in 2024. This gives 26 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.