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 Niagara Falls, and 2024 for 10 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 Niagara Falls, budget documents

   City of Niagara Falls · retrieved 2026-10-01

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

3. Consolidated Financial Statements of the Corporation of the City of Niagara Falls, Ontario, year ended December 31, 2024 (KPMG LLP, March 3, 2026)

   City of Niagara Falls (auditor: KPMG LLP) · retrieved 2026-10-05

   Audited statements for 2024. Clean opinion. 41 PDF pages (printed page number is the PDF page minus 6).

4. Consolidated Financial Statements of the Corporation of the City of Niagara Falls, Ontario, year ended December 31, 2023 (KPMG LLP, September 16, 2025)

   City of Niagara Falls (auditor: KPMG LLP) · retrieved 2026-10-05

   Audited statements for 2023. Used for the 2023 comparison and the 2023 legal claims note.

5. 2026 Mayor's Proposed Tax Levy Supported Budget (operating fund, 2026 compared with 2025)

   City of Niagara Falls · retrieved 2026-10-05

   Three pages of the tax supported operating fund, 2026 budget against 2025 budget.

6. 2025 Operating Budget Summary (tax supported operating fund, 2025 compared with 2024)

   City of Niagara Falls · retrieved 2026-10-05

   Three pages of the tax supported operating fund, 2025 budget against 2024 budget.

7. 2026 Mayor's Proposed Capital Budget (budget book released November 4, 2025)

   City of Niagara Falls · retrieved 2026-10-05

   The 2026 to 2029 capital budget book, 330 pages. Used for the consolidated summary and how the 2026 capital year is paid for.

8. CS-2025-43, Annual Update of OLG Spending and Commitments (Finance report to Mayor and Council, October 7, 2025)

   City of Niagara Falls, Finance · retrieved 2026-10-05

   The City's own account of the casino hosting money it has received and how it was spent or committed since April 1, 2013. 50 pages.

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 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 2024 return, in 2024. This gives 10 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.