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 Rideau Lakes, and 2024 for 90 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 Rideau Lakes, budget documents

   Township of Rideau Lakes · retrieved 2026-10-01

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

3. Consolidated Financial Statements, Corporation of the Township of Rideau Lakes, year ended December 31, 2024 (KPMG LLP, December 11, 2025)

   Township of Rideau Lakes (auditor: KPMG LLP) · retrieved 2026-10-05

   Audited statements for 2024 with 2023 comparatives. Clean opinion.

4. Township of Rideau Lakes, 2026 Operating Budget, Operating Projects and Capital Budget (posted as "2026 Budget")

   Township of Rideau Lakes · retrieved 2026-10-05

   Line-by-line operating budget with a column of 2025 year-to-date actuals. We used only the 2025 approved and 2025 year-to-date actual columns.

5. 2025 Tax Rates and Annual Budget (2025 Operating Budget pages)

   Township of Rideau Lakes · retrieved 2026-10-05

   Line-by-line operating budget with a column of 2024 year-to-date actuals. The first three pages are images and were not used.

6. Report on Closed Meeting Investigation 2026-01 (Hines Law, March 25, 2026)

   Hines Law, for Local Authority Services Inc., closed meeting investigator for the Township · retrieved 2026-10-05

   Public report on two council and committee closed meetings.

7. Integrity Commissioner Annual Report, operating period October 17, 2024 to December 31, 2025 (ADR Chambers, January 21, 2026)

   ADR Chambers Integrity Office · retrieved 2026-10-05

   Two-page annual letter with complaint counts, outcomes and fees.

8. 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 2024 return, in 2024. This gives 90 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.