Your town, in plain words
A clear, checkable guide to Southwold's budget, taxes and council decisions. A township of about 5,600 people in Southwestern Ontario. Every figure links back to the public record.
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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.
+190%roads and snow, 2019 to 2025
Southwold spent $1.2M on roads and snow in 2019 and $3.5M in 2025. Prices only went up about 21% in that time. Only 2 of 33 similar towns had faster growth here.
Found automatically from the town's financial reports · 3 sources
$24,808,800in reserves at the end of 2025, against $10,257,449 in cash and investments (worked out by us)
A reserve is money a council sets aside for a named purpose. At the end of 2025 the Township's reserves were $24,808,800 (2024: $18,791,421). Its cash was $3,151,075 and its investments $7,106,374, which add to $10,257,449 (worked out by us). The same note shows three funds below zero: the general revenue fund at ($4,399,045), the "benefiting land owners" fund at ($2,508,950) and "unfunded capital" at ($6,302,346). Unfunded capital was ($2,738,348) a year before and ($196,288) two years before. The three deficits add up to $13,210,341 (worked out by us). Reserves are a bookkeeping balance, not a pile of cash, so a gap like this is common when a township builds ahead of its funding. The statements do not say how the gap will be closed.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 4 sources
$14,296,770in assets under construction at the end of 2025, up from $5,347,465
Work in progress (assets still being built) rose to $14,296,770 at the end of 2025 from $5,347,465. In the 2025 year alone the Township added $11,765,191 to it. After year end the statements record three pieces of funding: a second Health and Safety Water Stream grant of $24.6 million for the Talbotville wastewater plant, a second payment of $16,737,491 from the Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund for the Shedden/Fingal plant, and a bylaw to borrow up to $4.8 million from Infrastructure Ontario for the new public works building. The statements say the loan "does not constitute grant funding". Unfunded capital, the amount spent on capital projects with no funding yet assigned, is ($6,302,346). The statements do not give the total cost of any of the three projects.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 4 sources
($2,508,950)balance of the benefiting land owners fund at the end of 2025, down from ($1,220,705)
A local improvement levy is a charge on the owners of land that benefits from works such as sewers. The 2025 budget counted on $3,150,000 of these levies. The Township collected $180,318 (2024: $342,084). The fund the Township keeps for these owners, "benefiting land owners", stood at ($2,508,950) at the end of 2025. It was ($1,220,705) a year before and ($1,340,612) two years before. A note explains that the Township fronted money for the Talbotville sanitary sewers, to be recovered from future development and connection charges, and expects a significant part within two years.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 5 sources
$2,573,882building permit revenue the Township moved out of 2023 reserves and surplus when it corrected an error
In its 2024 statements the Township said it "identified an error recording revenues from the sale of building permits" and restated 2023, reducing reserves and the surplus by $2,573,882. The same note corrects a second error in the recording of sanitary sewer recoveries ($319,625) and a third in investment gains and losses. Permit fees collected under the Building Code Act can only be spent on the building service, so they are held as an obligatory reserve fund. That fund was $2,245,951 at the end of 2025 (2024: $2,482,539). A separate "building purposes" reserve has held $3,209 for three years. The Township has already published its explanation of the error. What the statements do not say is how it was found and what has changed.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 2 sources
$3,563,933set aside for property tax assessment appeals at the end of 2025, up from $1,812,211 two years earlier
Owners can ask for their property's assessed value to be lowered, and if they win the Township must refund tax. Southwold keeps a reserve for this: "property tax assessment appeals" held $3,563,933 at the end of 2025, up from $2,664,533 a year earlier and $1,812,211 the year before that. The Township raised $8,391,395 in property tax for its own purposes in 2025, so the reserve is about 42 per cent of it (worked out by us). In the note on credit risk the Township says it provided an allowance of $nil for these challenges, because it could not make a reasonable estimate.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 4 sources
+78%police, fire and safety, 2019 to 2025
Southwold spent $1.3M on police, fire and safety in 2019 and $2.3M in 2025. Prices only went up about 21% in that time.
Found automatically from the town's financial reports · 2 sources
+96%water, sewers and garbage, 2019 to 2025
Southwold spent $1.9M on water, sewers and garbage in 2019 and $3.7M in 2025. Prices only went up about 21% in that time.
Found automatically from the town's financial reports · 2 sources
$14,327,574surplus in 2025, against a budgeted $2,230,112
A surplus is what is left when a year's revenue is more than its spending. The 2025 budget in the statements planned for $2,230,112. The audited result is $14,327,574 (2024: $4,573,792). Spending came in under budget ($15,246,354 against $15,552,419), so the gap is almost all revenue: $29,573,928 against $17,782,531. Three one-time items add up to $13,832,254 (worked out by us): $6,973,954 of provincial grant money for the Shedden/Fingal wastewater plant, $4,858,300 from selling land, and a $2,000,000 donation for the firehall. The Township explains the grant in a note. The same year it spent $15,079,991 buying and building assets, so most of the surplus is already in buildings and pipes, not in the bank.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 4 sources
$4,858,300from land sales in 2025, against a budget of $3,150,000
The Township counted $4,858,300 from "sales on land held for sale" in 2025, against a budget of $3,150,000. The 2024 statements had already said, as a subsequent event, that the Township "closed on the sale of land held for sale totalling $4.5 million" and that a deposit had been received on another sale. A deposit of $1,575,000 held at the end of 2024 is nil at the end of 2025. The land still held for resale was $644,103 at the end of 2025 (2024: $441,065). The reserve "other municipal services" rose from $1,202,634 to $6,047,850, which is close to the land sale amount, but the statements do not say the two are linked.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 4 sources
(15,079,991)shown as both the budget and the actual for buying capital assets in 2025
The note on budget figures in the 2025 statements says the operating budget "approved by Council on February 26, 2024" is shown on the statement of operations. The 2024 statements use the identical sentence, with the same date, but their budget column has different numbers (2024 property taxation budget 6,863,999, 2025 budget 7,238,453). The date in the 2025 note looks carried forward from the year before. In the statement of change in net financial assets the "Budget" column for buying capital assets, (15,079,991), is the same to the dollar as the actual. Note 12 explains that capital budgets run by project over several years and so are not comparable.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 3 sources
$609per home on snow ploughing, 2025
Southwold spent about $609 per home on snow ploughing in 2025. The typical similar town spent $141. Only 1 of 33 similar towns spent more.
Found automatically from the town's financial reports · 1 source
A property tax bill in Southwold pays for three governments. Only part of it goes to the town, and that part is what Southwold council controls.
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