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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by hand, Oct 2026DetailsThis is built from public records, which leave a lot out, and some of it may be wrong or out of date.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 Perth'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

Perth is run by an elected council of 7 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.

How open is Perth?

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

  • Yes
    Budgets posted online

    The 2026 Mayor's Budget (adopted December 9, 2025) and the 2025 budget are posted as PDFs on one page. The 2025 budget file is a scan with no text layer that we could read. Source

  • Yes
    Audited financial statements

    Audited statements are posted for 2019 to 2025. The 2025 statements carry a clean opinion ("present fairly") from KPMG LLP dated September 22, 2026. The 2024 opinion is dated June 24, 2025. Source

  • Unknown
    Council pay and expenses (s. 284)

    We did not find a yearly statement of council remuneration and expenses on the finance, council or reports pages, or in the Town's sitemap. It may be in the meeting portal, which we did not read. Source

  • Unknown
    Meeting agendas and minutes

    Agendas and minutes are on the Town's CivicWeb meeting portal. The portal's robots.txt asks every automated crawler to stay out of the whole site, so we did not read it and did not read any minutes. Source

  • Yes
    Meeting videos

    The Town says council and committee of the whole meetings are live streamed and are available on YouTube the following day. Source

Where the town speaks for itself

Perth'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.

Ask for the records

Anyone can ask the town for its records under Ontario's Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (MFIPPA). You do not have to say why. Here is how it works, and the wording for the records that would answer the questions on this site.

  1. Send the request in writing to the town clerk (the freedom of information coordinator), on the town’s form or in a letter, with the $5 application fee.
  2. Describe the records, not the answer you want. Dates, departments and the kind of record (a list, invoices, emails) make a request quicker and cheaper.
  3. The town has 45 business days to answer (the law changed in 2026; older guides say 30 days). It can charge for search time and copies, but must send an estimate first if the fees will be over $25.
  4. Some parts can be held back, such as legal advice or personal information about other people. The town must say which part of the law it relied on.
  5. If you are refused, or the fees seem too high, you can appeal to the Information and Privacy Commissioner within 30 business days of the town’s decision.

The town's request form (on its Forms page) · The law · Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario

  • The calculation behind the $50M and $40M debt figures

    The 2026 budget says $50M of new debt is expected by 2034 against about $40M of room. The worksheet shows how the Town counted it. Related question: Why does the Town's own plan to borrow $50 million by 2034 go past the borrowing limit it says it can carry?.

    Show the request wordingHide the wording
    Under the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, I request the Annual Repayment Limit calculation used in the 2026 Mayor's Budget, and the schedule of expected new debt for 2026 to 2034 that supports the statement that $50M of new debt is expected.

  • What the cash at December 31, 2025 was set aside for

    The Town held $17,295,055 in cash at year end and borrowed $3.3 million afterwards. A list of what the cash was held for shows how much was free to spend. Related question: Why did the Town let almost $10 million of investments mature without reinvesting, then borrow $3.3 million after year end?.

    Show the request wordingHide the wording
    Under the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, I request the Town's schedule of cash and bank balances at December 31, 2025, showing amounts held in reserves, obligatory reserve funds, unspent grants and carried-forward projects, and the approval for the financing obtained after year end.

The wording is a starting point, not legal advice. Narrow the dates if the town says a request is too broad or too costly.

How to raise a concern

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

  1. Integrity Commissioner

    The Town posts a yearly report from its Integrity Commissioner, a lawyer retained by Council, for 2019 to 2025. The 2025 report says one complaint was received and dismissed, with no report to Council, and that complaint costs were $130.00. The 2024 report says there were no complaints.

  2. Closed meetings

    The Town's closed meetings page explains when Council may meet privately under section 239 of the Municipal Act, 2001. We did not find a list of closed meeting investigator reports on the page we read.