Not the full picture. Built from public records, which leave things out.Read by hand, Oct 2026Details

This is built from public records, which leave a lot out, and some of it may be wrong or out of date.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 Saugeen Shores'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.

Compare · 2024

How Saugeen Shores compares with similar towns

Is Saugeen Shores spending a lot or a little? The fairest way to tell is to compare it with towns like it. We picked every Ontario town of the same type (Ontario lower-tier municipalities with 60% to 160% of this population that had filed their 2024 return): 76 towns with between 9,545 and 24,860 people.

How to read this. Each grey dot is one similar town. The large dot is Saugeen Shores, and the line marked "typical" is the town in the middle. The label and colour say where Saugeen Shores sits:

▼ Very low: lower than 90% of similar towns
▼ Low: lower than 75%
≈ Typical: in the middle half
▲ High: higher than 75%
▲ Very high: higher than 90%
Warning mark: unusual in a worrying way for this measure, like very low savings or a very high tax increase

Being far from the middle is not wrong by itself, but it is where to start asking why.

One thing to keep in mind: "per home" uses the number of households each town reports to the Province. Some towns count seasonal cottages as households and some do not, so comparisons with lake and cottage towns are rougher than they look.

Similar towns in Southwestern Ontario include Mono, Guelph-Eramosa, Erin, Wellington North, Mapleton, Minto, North Dumfries, Wellesley.

Spending per home

What the town spends on each service, divided by the number of homes. This makes big and small towns comparable.

Total day-to-day spending

Everything the town spent in a year, divided by the number of homes.

$3,758Higher than 54 of 76 similar towns. Typical: $3,211

typical

Town property tax

The town's own share of property tax, divided by the number of homes.

$2,784Higher than 55 of 76 similar towns. Typical: $2,441

typical

Running the town office

Council, managers, office staff and the town hall, per home.

$560Higher than 46 of 76 similar towns. Typical: $509

typical

Council

Council pay, expenses and meetings, per home.

$34Lower than 64 of 76 similar towns. Typical: $47

typical

Roads and snow

Per home. Towns with many kilometres of rural road spend more.

$701Higher than 47 of 76 similar towns. Typical: $658

typical

Snow ploughing

Per home.

$75Lower than 39 of 76 similar towns. Typical: $76

typical

Police, fire and safety

Per home.

$916Higher than 63 of 76 similar towns. Typical: $705

typical

Fire department

Per home.

$157Lower than 70 of 76 similar towns. Typical: $237

typical

Police

Per home. Most small Ontario towns pay the OPP under the same province-wide formula.

$608Higher than 71 of 76 similar towns. Typical: $319

typical

Water, sewers and garbage

Per home.

$659Higher than 41 of 76 similar towns. Typical: $594

typical

Garbage, dump and recycling

Per home.

$219Higher than 59 of 76 similar towns. Typical: $107

typical

Parks, arena and library

Per home.

$631Higher than 49 of 76 similar towns. Typical: $542

typical

Planning and business

Per home.

$222Higher than 61 of 76 similar towns. Typical: $145

typical

Money health

Signs of whether the town is living within its means.

Savings compared with spending

Savings, as a share of one year's spending.

104%Higher than 47 of 76 similar towns. Typical: 94%

typical

Savings (reserves)

Money set aside for repairs and emergencies, per home. More is safer.

$3,892Higher than 51 of 76 similar towns. Typical: $3,025

typical

Long-term debt

What the town still owes on long-term loans, per home.

$2,987Higher than 62 of 76 similar towns. Typical: $1,136

typical

Unpaid property taxes

Property taxes owed but not yet paid at year end, as a share of all taxes billed. The Province’s financial indicators treat 10% to 15% as a moderate risk and more than 15% as high.

7%Lower than 47 of 76 similar towns. Typical: 8%

typical

Share spent running the office

Out of every dollar spent, how much goes to running the town office.

15%Lower than 44 of 76 similar towns. Typical: 16%

typical

How worn out things are

How much of the value of roads, pipes and buildings has already been used up. Higher means older.

46%Higher than 49 of 76 similar towns. Typical: 43%

typical

How fast costs are growing

Growth over five years (2019 to 2024), and the latest one-year change in property tax.

Property tax increase, last year

How much more the town collected in its own property tax than the year before.

11%Higher than 63 of 76 similar towns. Typical: 7%

typical

Property tax growth, 5 years

How much the town's own property tax grew over five years.

49%Higher than 71 of 76 similar towns. Typical: 33%

typical

Spending growth, 5 years

How much day-to-day spending grew over five years.

40%Higher than 58 of 76 similar towns. Typical: 33%

typical

Office cost growth, 5 years

How much the cost of running the town office grew over five years.

86%Higher than 69 of 76 similar towns. Typical: 48%

typical

Council cost growth, 5 years

How much council costs grew over five years.

13%Lower than 52 of 76 similar towns. Typical: 23%

typical

Parks and arena cost growth, 5 years

How much parks, arena and library costs grew over five years.

34%Higher than 38 of 76 similar towns. Typical: 34%

typical

Roads cost growth, 5 years

How much road and snow costs grew over five years.

34%Higher than 52 of 76 similar towns. Typical: 22%

typical

Source: Ontario Financial Information Return (FIR), 2024, all 77 municipalities (archived copy). Ontario Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing. Retrieved 2026-10-01. Figures are what the municipality reported to the Province for each year, prepared on the same basis as its audited financial statements.

Towns sort costs into categories a little differently, and some share services with neighbours, so small gaps mean little. Big gaps are worth a question.