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by hand, Oct 2026DetailsThis is built from public records, which leave a lot out, and some of it may be wrong or out of date.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 Petawawa'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.
A clear, checkable guide to Petawawa's budget, taxes and council decisions. A town of about 18,000 people in Renfrew County, with a mayor and six councillors elected at large (no wards). Every figure links back to the public record.
$1,554,668of the federal grant for the biogas project was still owed to the Town at the end of 2024, payable on completion
A design-build contract is one where a single company designs and builds a project. The Town's 2024 audited statements say it signed one in 2022 for a co-digestion and biogas project at the wastewater plant, with an estimated cost of $7.8M. The statements say the project is still ongoing and that $6,573,270 of the Town's spending on it has been recorded as construction in progress (work that is not finished). Once it is complete the Town will owe the contractor a $2.08M loan, repaid in half-yearly instalments of $115,206 over ten years, and an annual consulting fee of $57,200 for ten years. A federal grant of $2.72M has been approved. The Town has counted $2,552,058 of it as revenue, but $1,554,668 of that has not been paid yet and will be paid only when the project is complete. The draft 2026 budget (not the adopted one) has a sewer line called "Net Zero Project" with $1,047,524.00 for 2026. The draft does not say whether that is the same project, and we have not confirmed it. Worked out by us: ten years of the instalments add up to $2,304,120, and ten years of the fee to $572,000.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 3 sources
$2,014,777of new debt in the draft 2026 capital budget, against $20,601,843 of internally restricted reserves at the end of 2024
A reserve is money a town sets aside for a later purpose. "Internally restricted" means council set it aside, not a law. At December 31, 2024 the Town's statements show cash of $17,190,641, internally restricted reserves of $20,601,843 and long-term debt of only $130,594. The draft 2026 capital budget (not adopted) lists $2,014,777 of new debt: $424,000 for a plow truck and $1,590,777 for the Portage Road Phase 3 project. The same capital list uses $2,351,222 of reserves. The draft also shows that $2,600,000.00 of borrowing planned for 2025 for the public works yard was not drawn: 2025 actual "-", with the yard expansion "Project completed in 2025" after $962,796.48 was spent against a budget of $2,600,000.00. The draft budgets $33,829.87 of principal and $40,295.54 of interest in 2026 on "New debt for 2026".
Found by reading the town's own documents · 4 sources
$7,008,363payment in lieu of taxes in 2024, down from $11,140,886 in 2023
Some governments do not pay property tax, so they pay the Town a sum instead, called a payment in lieu of taxes. On the Town's statement of operations this line was $11,140,886 in 2023 and $7,008,363 in 2024, against a 2024 budget of $8,242,378. Worked out by us: that is $4,132,523 lower than the year before. Property taxation was $8,425,921 in 2024. The draft 2026 general budget (not adopted) has a revenue line labelled "DND" (the draft does not spell it out) at $7,962,012.96 for 2026, up $790,763.83 from 2025, with no comment. Next to it, residential, farm and managed forest taxes are $8,249,595.00. The statements do not say whether the "DND" line is the same as the statements' payment in lieu line, so we do not treat them as one number.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 2 sources
$3,210,096excess of revenue over expenses in 2024, against a statement budget of $8,557,542
The statement of operations shows an excess of revenue over expenses of $3,210,096 for 2024, against a budget of $8,557,542. Worked out by us: that is $5,347,446 lower than planned. Revenue was close to plan (31,348,985 against 31,095,053). Expenses were not: 28,138,889 against 22,537,511. The statements themselves give most of the reason. Note 10 shows that the budget has nothing for amortization (the yearly wearing-out cost of buildings, roads and equipment), while the actual figure is 4,558,882. Worked out by us: that leaves $788,564 of the gap that amortization does not explain. By function, transportation services spent 7,288,891 against a budget of 3,356,066. Note 15 says the budget figures come from the operating and capital budgets that Council approved on February 5, 2024 and December 18, 2023.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 2 sources
$2,658,688.57sewer fund result for 2025 in the draft 2026 budget, against a budget of nil (water: $2,368,903.26)
Water and sewer are paid for by user charges and are kept in their own funds. In the draft 2026 budget (not adopted), each fund page ends with a TOTAL row. For 2025 the water total is (2,368,903.26) and the sewer total is (2,658,688.57), against 2025 budgets of nil, so both funds were planned to break even. In this draft, brackets mean revenue. The prior-year surplus lines tie to the 2024 statements, which show a water surplus of 777,321 and a wastewater surplus of 1,165,279. Worked out by us: after taking those prior-year lines out, the 2025 result is $1,591,582.66 for water and $1,493,409.22 for sewer. User charges came in above budget (water 3,875,713.35 against 3,248,349.48; sewer 3,963,962.84 against 2,958,621.94). Planned draws on lifecycle reserves were not made, and some capital work was spent below budget. The draft's comments say its 2026 reserve draws are "To balance Water Fund" and "To balance Sewer Fund". These 2025 "actual" figures are from a draft, not from audited statements.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 3 sources
$693,722unrestricted general fund deficit at the end of 2024, down from a surplus of $142,744 in 2023
The Town's accumulated surplus is split into parts. At the end of 2024 the unrestricted part of the general fund was a deficit of $693,722, down from a surplus of $142,744 a year earlier. Worked out by us: that is a fall of $836,466. The Town's whole year showed an excess of revenue over expenses of $3,210,096, and its accumulated surplus is $134,449,941, most of it equity in buildings, roads and other capital assets (115,281,879). The draft 2026 general budget (not adopted) carries the same figure, 693,721.54, as a "Surplus/Deficit-Prev Year" line with 2025 actual of 693,721.54, and nothing in the 2026 column.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 3 sources
December 1, 2025date of the auditors' report on the 2024 statements
The auditors signed their report on the Town's 2024 statements on December 1, 2025, eleven months after the year ended. The statements are posted as scans of paper pages, which cannot be searched and are hard for screen readers. The opinion is clean: the statements "present fairly".
Found by reading the town's own documents · 1 source
Petawawa spent about $455 per home on garbage, dump and recycling in 2024. The typical similar town spent $19. None of the 64 similar towns spent more.
Found automatically from the town's financial reports · 1 source
2024 tax year · Petawawa, Ontario
Your tax bill, worked out.
Enter your home's assessed value to see roughly what you pay in property tax each year, who gets it, and what Petawawa's share pays for.
Ontario still uses property values from January 1, 2016 for tax, so your assessed value is probably well below what your home would sell for today.
$
It is on your property assessment notice from MPAC, and on your tax bill. We filled in the typical value in Petawawa.
An estimate. It uses the residential tax rate, and splits Petawawa's share by what each service cost in 2024 after its own fees and grants (for example, water bills pay for much of a water system). Real bills also depend on your property class, local charges and any rebates.
How Petawawa's share of the bill compares with similar towns
Towns are only compared with places of a similar size and kind, from the same yearly reports.
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