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by hand, Oct 2026DetailsThis is built from public records, which leave a lot out, and some of it may be wrong or out of date.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

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 Peterborough, and 2024 for 8 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 Peterborough, budget documents

    City of Peterborough · retrieved 2026-10-01

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

  3. Corporation of the City of Peterborough, Consolidated Financial Statements, December 31, 2024 (Baker Tilly KDN LLP, September 25, 2025)

    City of Peterborough (auditor: Baker Tilly KDN LLP) · retrieved 2026-10-05

    Audited statements for 2024, with 2023 as restated. Clean opinion. 54 PDF pages; printed page 1 is PDF page 7. The file is posted as "redacted"; the management report page is blank.

  4. Corporation of the City of Peterborough, 2023 Financial Report (Baker Tilly KDN LLP, August 12, 2024)

    City of Peterborough (auditor: Baker Tilly KDN LLP) · retrieved 2026-10-05

    Audited statements for 2023 as first printed. Used for the 2023 budget and actual figures before restatement.

  5. 2026 Budget Book (December 2025)

    City of Peterborough · retrieved 2026-10-05

    The 2026 operating and capital budget, taxes, debt, reserves and fees. 407 PDF pages; printed page 2 is PDF page 9.

  6. Draft 2025 Budget Book, Report FCSFS24-036 (November 2024)

    City of Peterborough · retrieved 2026-10-05

    The staff draft of the 2025 budget, presented November 18, 2024. Used for the 2025 guideline, the police station plan and the development charge debt.

  7. 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 single-tier municipalities with 60% to 160% of this population that had filed their 2024 return, in 2024. This gives 8 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.