Your town, in plain words
A clear, checkable guide to Ryerson's budget, taxes and council decisions. A small township in the Parry Sound District near Burk's Falls, with a five-member council: a mayor and four councillors. Every figure links back to the public record.
Follow Ryerson in one tapWhere it goes
Questions worth asking
Each one is a question, not an accusation. Every one lists ordinary reasons it could be true, and the documents it comes from.
$374per home on council, 2024
Ryerson spent about $374 per home on council in 2024. The typical similar town spent $114. Only 4 of 51 similar towns spent more.
Found automatically from the town's financial reports · 1 source
$3,634,901the contract price of the new fire hall, plus HST, shared by three municipalities
Ryerson, Armour and Burk's Falls run one fire department together, and its notes split the yearly costs 28.60%, 47.84% and 23.56%. The three councils have hired a builder for a new fire hall at $3,634,901 plus HST (the Harmonized Sales Tax). By the end of 2025 only $293,000 of work was done. If the hall were split the same way as the yearly costs, Ryerson's share would be about $856,383 before HST (worked out by us; the papers we read do not say how the hall is split). The fire department itself holds $3,072 in reserves and had $(211,761) of capital spending not yet paid for at the end of 2025. The Township's own fire reserve is $135,052 and its long-term debt is down to $84,571. We did not find where council has said how Ryerson's share will be paid.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 6 sources
$191,263owed by the fire department to the Township of Ryerson at December 31, 2025, with no repayment terms
The fire department's statements list what it owed to, or was owed by, each of its three municipalities. Only Ryerson appears. At the end of 2025 the department owed Ryerson $191,263, and the note says these amounts have no interest and no set repayment terms. A year earlier Ryerson owed the department $16,223. In the same year Ryerson's yearly payment to the department was $116,713 against a budget of $127,818. The department's unpaid bills grew from $11,556 to $207,475.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 3 sources
Council's April 14, 2026 minutes say council adopted the "2026 Budget Report." The budget page on the Township's website holds the asset management plan and related files, not a 2026 budget. The only posted document we found that says it adopts the budget is the tax rates by-law, which carries a short table of totals and no line-by-line detail. The draft budgets on the meetings page are pictures of pages that cannot be read as text.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 3 sources
An asset management plan lists a town's roads, buildings and equipment, what they will cost to replace, and how the town will pay. The plan on the Township's website is dated October 2021. It says an update covering all assets, including shared services, is due by July 1, 2024 and one adding target service levels and a funding plan by July 1, 2025. The Township's own page says a plan "developed in 2016 continues to be in effect." We did not find an updated plan.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 4 sources
+11%town property tax, 2023 to 2024
In 2024, Ryerson collected $250K more in its own property tax than in 2023. That is a 11% jump, while prices went up about 2.4%. Only 9 of 51 similar towns raised theirs by more. Almost all of it came from a higher tax rate (up 6% for homes); the value of homes on the tax roll grew only 1.9%.
Found automatically from the town's financial reports · 4 sources
The Township's unpaid bills and accrued costs went from $279,747 to $659,707 during 2025, a rise of $379,960 (worked out by us). Its cash rose in the same year. The statements do not say what the extra bills were for. The shared fire department's unpaid bills also rose a lot, and the Township's share of them is part of this number.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 2 sources
The auditor signed the 2025 statements on September 22, 2026, about nine months after the year ended. The 2024 statements were signed on September 18, 2025 by a different audit firm, so the late-September timing has now happened two years running. The 2025 statements were posted and carry a clean opinion.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 3 sources
The statements show an annual surplus of $711,848 against a budget of $520,392, a difference of $191,456 (worked out by us). Roads and winter control spent $1,159,158 against a budget of $1,323,314, which is $164,156 less (worked out by us). Government transfers came in at $596,582 against a budget of $692,065. The adopted budget planned to use $414,014 of the general operating surplus. This "surplus" is an accounting figure that includes money spent on capital and moved into reserves, not cash left over.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 2 sources
In the April 14, 2026 minutes, one tender is recorded as $27,000.00 plus HST for a total of $35,510.00. At the 13 per cent HST rate the other tenders in the same minutes use, $27,000.00 plus HST would be $30,510.00 (worked out by us). This is a small purchase and the likeliest answer is a typing slip in the minutes.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 2 sources
$376per home on snow ploughing, 2024
Ryerson spent about $376 per home on snow ploughing in 2024. The typical similar town spent $98. Only 3 of 51 similar towns spent more.
Found automatically from the town's financial reports · 1 source
2024 tax year · Ryerson, Ontario
Enter your home's assessed value to see roughly what you pay in property tax each year, who gets it, and what Ryerson'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 Ryerson.
a year in property tax, at 2024 rates
Ryerson council sets only its own share. the Province sets the school rate.
An estimate. It uses the residential tax rate, and splits Ryerson'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.
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Each number links to the public document it came from. Check it yourself.
We ask questions. Every one lists ordinary reasons a number could look odd.
Towns are only compared with places of a similar size and kind, from the same yearly reports.
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