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 Sault Ste Marie, 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 Sault Ste Marie, council remuneration and expense statements

   City of Sault Ste Marie · retrieved 2026-10-05

   What each council member was paid, and spent on benefits and expenses, 2021 to 2022. One statement a year; the link is the latest, and the council page links each year.

3. City of Sault Ste Marie, budget documents

   City of Sault Ste Marie · retrieved 2026-10-01

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

4. The Corporation of the City of Sault Ste. Marie, Consolidated Financial Statements, Year ended December 31, 2025 (KPMG LLP, July 27, 2026)

   City of Sault Ste. Marie (auditor: KPMG LLP) · retrieved 2026-10-05

   Audited statements for 2025. Clean opinion dated July 27, 2026. 36 PDF pages.

5. The Corporation of the City of Sault Ste. Marie, Consolidated Financial Statements, Year ended December 31, 2024 (KPMG LLP, July 16, 2025)

   City of Sault Ste. Marie (auditor: KPMG LLP) · retrieved 2026-10-05

   Audited statements for 2024. Used for the landfill note and the 2024 result.

6. 2026 Preliminary Budget (City of Sault Ste. Marie)

   City of Sault Ste. Marie · retrieved 2026-10-05

   The 2026 preliminary budget book with the Chief Financial Officer's report, operating, capital and sanitary budgets. 142 PDF pages. Council deliberations were scheduled for December 8 and 9, 2025.

7. 2026 Final Operating Budget Summary

   City of Sault Ste. Marie · retrieved 2026-10-05

   The final operating budget by department, with 2025 and 2026 columns. 4 PDF pages.

8. 2026 Final Capital Budget

   City of Sault Ste. Marie · retrieved 2026-10-05

   The final 2026 capital budget and five-year summary.

9. 2026 Tax Levy Summary

   City of Sault Ste. Marie · retrieved 2026-10-05

   The 2026 levy by property class. Total levy $151,644,623.

10. City of Sault Ste. Marie, Third Quarter Ended September 30, 2025 (Appendix A, Quarter Three Financial Report)

    City of Sault Ste. Marie · retrieved 2026-10-05

    Budget against actual for the first nine months of 2025, by department.

11. Annual Report of the Integrity Commissioner, January 1 to December 31, 2023 (submitted March 4, 2024)

    City of Sault Ste. Marie (Integrity Commissioner) · retrieved 2026-10-05

    The latest Integrity Commissioner report we found. 3 pages.

12. The Corporation of the City of Sault Ste. Marie, Summary of Remuneration and Expenses 2022 for Mayor & Council, Board and Committee Members

    City of Sault Ste. Marie · retrieved 2026-10-05

    Pay and expenses of each member of Council for 2022, the newest we found.

13. The Corporation of the City of Sault Ste. Marie, Summary of Remuneration and Expenses 2021 for Mayor & Council, Board and Committee Members

    City of Sault Ste. Marie · retrieved 2026-10-05

    Pay and expenses of each member of Council for 2021.

14. 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.

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.