Council BooksNiagara-on-the-LakeOntarioSign inSubscribe
Not the full picture. Built from public records, which leave things out.Read by hand, Oct 2026DetailsThis is built from public records, which leave a lot out, and some of it may be wrong or out of date. Check the sources, and tell us if you spot a mistake. What this site can't tell you
Read by hand. We read Niagara-on-the-Lake's own documents for this site in October 2026; the Sources page lists which ones. The comparisons with other places still come from the Province's yearly reports.

Council

Who decides, and how you can hold them to account

Niagara-on-the-Lake is run by an elected council of 9 people. They set the budget, approve big purchases and hire the senior staff who run the town day to day.

Current council

Names and official email addresses from the town's council page. None of the members lists a public social media account there.

What council is paid

Every year the town has to publish what each council member was paid, and what was spent on their benefits and expenses. These are the totals from those statements, 2023 to 2024.

In 2024, the whole council cost $287,034 in pay, benefits and expenses, about $34 per home.
Pay, and benefits and expenses, for each council member by year
Member20242023
Gary Zalepa
Lord Mayor		$53,169+ $13,660$53,169+ $10,407
Erwin Wiens
Deputy Lord Mayor and Councillor		$16,320+ $17,530$16,320+ $12,744
Tim Balasiuk
Councillor		$16,210+ $8,779$16,210+ $10,503
Gary Burroughs
Councillor		$16,210+ $10,588$16,210+ $9,645
Wendy Cheropita
Councillor		$16,210+ $10,831$16,210+ $8,145
Maria Mavridis
Councillor		$16,210+ $9,455$16,210+ $11,289
Andrew Niven
Councillor		$2,967+ $1,409–
Sandra O'Connor
Councillor		$16,210+ $9,422$16,210+ $7,290
Nick Ruller
Councillor		$17,050+ $8,847$17,050+ $8,884
Adriana Vizzari
Councillor		$17,050+ $8,906$17,050+ $8,995

Top number: pay. Second number: benefits and expenses together, such as health cover, mileage, conferences and training. Exactly what goes in it differs a little from town to town; the note below says what this town’s statement includes. Some members take the town’s health plan and some do not, so a higher second number is not a problem by itself. The statements give only totals; the receipts behind them can be requested from the clerk.

Each year links to the town's statement. From the Town's yearly Council & Committee Remuneration reports (the s. 284 statement). "pay" is the wages and honorarium column; "other" is everything else the statement adds to reach the printed total (legislated benefits, fringe benefits, conferences and events, mileage and travel, technology). Every row adds up to its printed total. The reports are text PDFs whose table layout scrambles in a plain text extraction; we read the raw text order and checked each row. The report for 2022 is posted but its rows did not line up reliably, so we left it out. We did not find a 2025 report. The 2024 report lists Andrew Niven for part of the year (a total of 4,375.96) as well as the nine other members; it does not say why.

How open is Niagara-on-the-Lake?

What a resident can find online without asking, as of October 5, 2026.

  • Partly
    Budgets posted online

    The newest budget book on the Town's budget page is the Approved 2024 Budget. We did not find the 2025 or 2026 budget books there. The Town's notice says the 2026 budget was to be adopted at a special meeting on December 2, 2025, and its meeting portal lists the proposed 2026 budget documents, but the portal refused a scripted download of them (HTTP 403), so we did not read them. Source

  • Yes
    Audited financial statements

    The 2025 consolidated statements carry a clean opinion ("present fairly") from KPMG LLP dated August 4, 2026. The 2024 statements carry a clean opinion dated August 7, 2025. Statements back to 2007 are posted. Source

  • Partly
    Council pay and expenses (s. 284)

    The page lists council and committee remuneration reports for 2022, 2023 and 2024. We did not find 2025. Source

  • Unknown
    Meeting agendas and minutes

    Agendas and minutes are on an eScribe portal. The portal refused scripted downloads of documents (HTTP 403), so we did not read any minutes. Source

  • Yes
    Conflict of interest registry

    Yearly declaration tables for Council are posted for 2018 to 2026. Source

  • Yes
    Integrity Commissioner reports

    Annual reports for 2018 to 2024 are posted. The newest, for March 19, 2023 to September 30, 2024, is dated April 27, 2026. Source

Where the town speaks for itself

Niagara-on-the-Lake's official channels, as linked from its own website. Council members may also post on their own pages; we link only to official municipal channels.

How to raise a concern

From the gentlest step to the most serious. Start at the top.

  1. Integrity Commissioner

    The Town's page names Principles Integrity as its Integrity Commissioner and lists annual reports for 2018 to 2024. The latest report we read covers March 19, 2023 to September 30, 2024 and is dated April 27, 2026.

  2. Registry of declarations of interest

    The Town keeps a yearly table of declarations by members of Council, 2018 to 2026. We did not read the tables.

  3. Closed meetings

    The Town's pages explain the reasons council may meet in private under the Municipal Act. We did not find a closed-meeting investigator named, or any reports.