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 2025 for Quinte West, and 2025 for 3 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 Quinte West, council remuneration and expense statements

   City of Quinte West · retrieved 2026-10-01

   What each council member was paid, and spent on benefits and expenses, 2023 to 2025. One statement a year; the link is the latest, and the council page links each year.

3. City of Quinte West, budget documents

   City of Quinte West · retrieved 2026-10-01

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

4. 2025 Consolidated Financial Statements (audited)

   City of Quinte West and Wilkinson & Company LLP · retrieved 2026-10-01

   Audited statements with the auditor’s report of June 23, 2026. Used for spending by service, the lawsuit set-aside, debt and the check against the Province’s figures.

5. 2023 Consolidated Financial Statements (audited)

   City of Quinte West and Wilkinson & Company LLP · retrieved 2026-10-01

   Used only for the date of the auditor’s report, May 10, 2024. The text inside the file could not be read, so no other figures were taken from it.

6. 2026 Budget Book

   City of Quinte West · retrieved 2026-10-01

   Department budgets, staffing, doctor recruitment, reserves and debt. Council approved it December 10 to 11, 2025.

7. 2025 Budget Book

   City of Quinte West · retrieved 2026-10-01

   The city’s account of the 2025 pay increases, job evaluation and cost pressures.

8. Council agenda, March 4, 2026

   City of Quinte West · retrieved 2026-10-01

   Includes the 2025 council pay report, the fourth-quarter 2025 operating update and the fourth-quarter purchasing report.

9. Council agenda, July 15, 2026

   City of Quinte West · retrieved 2026-10-01

   Includes the year-end debt report and the development charges statement, both for 2025.

10. Council agenda, January 10, 2024

    City of Quinte West · retrieved 2026-10-01

    Includes the Integrity Commissioner’s final report dated December 6, 2023.

11. Council agenda, March 6, 2024

    City of Quinte West · retrieved 2026-10-01

    Includes the 2023 council pay and expenses report.

12. 2025 Elected Members payments report (staff report QW-2026-00030)

    City of Quinte West · retrieved 2026-10-01

    Each member’s 2025 salary and expenses.

13. 2024 Elected Members payments report (staff report QW-2025-00033)

    City of Quinte West · retrieved 2026-10-01

    Each member’s 2024 salary and expenses.

14. Council minutes, November 14, 2022 to July 15, 2026 (83 meetings read)

    City of Quinte West · retrieved 2026-10-01

    Read for closed sessions and declarations of interest. Each meeting’s minutes are a separate file in the portal’s Minutes folder.

15. 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 2025 return, in 2025. This gives 3 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.

Checked against the audited statements

For 2025 we compared the Province’s figures with the City’s audited consolidated statements (Wilkinson & Company LLP, a clean opinion signed June 23, 2026). Total expenses ($121,210,247), pay and benefits ($35,359,522), contracted services ($17,763,311), transfers ($31,638,502), amortization ($21,002,864), cash ($43,189,829), investments ($35,970,890), municipal debt ($105,513,626) and net debt ($63,018,249) match to the dollar. Total revenue is $138,325,315 in the return and $138,325,314 in the statements. The statements.

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.