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 Ramara, and 2025 for 45 similar towns. Figures are what the municipality reported to the Province for each year, prepared on the same basis as its audited financial statements.

2. Township of Ramara, budget documents

   Township of Ramara · retrieved 2026-10-01

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

3. Corporation of the Township of Ramara, Consolidated Financial Statements, December 31, 2025 (Baker Tilly KDN LLP, June 12, 2026)

   Township of Ramara (auditor: Baker Tilly KDN LLP) · retrieved 2026-10-05

   Audited statements for 2025, with 2024 alongside. Clean opinion dated June 12, 2026. 54 PDF pages including trust fund and local board statements.

4. Township of Ramara 2026 Budget (approved budget package, adopted November 5, 2025)

   Township of Ramara · retrieved 2026-10-05

   The 2026 budget book, 185 PDF pages. Its "2025 Actual" columns are actuals as of November 6, 2025, not the full year. Its summary column is headed "2026 Mayor Budget" but it carries Council's November 3, 2025 amendments (for example the OPP line of 2,038,000 and the 4.05% rate).

5. Ramara adopts 2026 Budget (news release, November 7, 2025)

   Township of Ramara · retrieved 2026-10-05

   The Township's own summary of the adopted 2026 budget, including the wastewater plant and the rate increases.

6. Ombudsman Report: Investigation into informal gatherings held over email by the Committee of the Whole for the Township of Ramara on October 23 and 24, 2024 (October 2025)

   Ombudsman of Ontario · retrieved 2026-10-05

   Cover letter dated October 10, 2025 and the final report.

7. Ombudsman Report: Investigation into a meeting held by the Joint Accessibility Advisory Committee for the Townships of Ramara and Severn on June 21, 2024 (August 2026)

   Ombudsman of Ontario · retrieved 2026-10-05

   Cover letter dated August 18, 2026 and the final report.

8. Municipal Closed Meeting Investigations (Township web page)

   Township of Ramara · retrieved 2026-10-05

   Says how reports are made public and lists the two Ombudsman reports.

9. 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 town 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 town reported to the Province for that year.

Similar towns

Ontario lower-tier municipalities with 60% to 160% of this population that had filed their 2025 return, in 2025. This gives 45 towns. "Typical" means the median: half of similar towns are above it and half below. The size limits are a judgement call; moving them a little adds or drops a few towns, so treat small differences in rank as noise. Per-home figures use the household counts each town reports to the Province. Towns 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 towns; when a measure of money health is worse than 80% of similar towns; or when a one-year tax increase is higher than 80% of similar towns and well above inflation. "Needs an answer" means worse than 90% of similar towns. When there are fewer than 20 similar towns, 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 town'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.