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 Stone Mills, and 2024 for 85 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 Stone Mills, council remuneration and expense statements

   Township of Stone Mills · retrieved 2026-10-01

   What each council member was paid, and spent on benefits and expenses, 2023 to 2025. One statement a year; the link is the latest, and the council page links each year.

3. Township of Stone Mills, budget documents

   Township of Stone Mills · retrieved 2026-10-01

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

4. Financial statements, year ended December 31, 2024

   KPMG LLP (auditor) for the Township · retrieved 2026-10-01

   Audited statements with a clean opinion dated September 16, 2025. Includes the landfill closing obligation (note 8) and reserves (note 3).

5. 2025 Financial Statements (draft), staff report for September 28, 2026

   Township treasurer, with KPMG · retrieved 2026-10-01

   Draft 2025 statements stamped DRAFT, with the treasurer’s report; the auditor’s report date is blank.

6. 2026 Budget presentation (revised, February 23, 2026)

   Township staff · retrieved 2026-10-01

   Slide-by-slide notes on each budget line, the 3.97% tax rate increase and a comparison with nearby townships.

7. By-law 2026-1340, 2026 budget

   Township of Stone Mills · retrieved 2026-10-01

   Adopted March 9, 2026, with the operating and capital summaries.

8. 2025 Council Remuneration Report (statement of the treasurer)

   Township treasurer · retrieved 2026-10-01

   Council pay and expenses for 2025, in the February 9, 2026 agenda.

9. 2024 Council Remuneration Report

   Township treasurer · retrieved 2026-10-01

   Council pay and expenses for 2024, in the March 17, 2025 agenda.

10. 2023 Council Remuneration Report

    Township treasurer · retrieved 2026-10-01

    Council pay and expenses for 2023, in the June 3, 2024 agenda.

11. Staff report: Staff Report on Budget Deficit for Newburgh Medical Centre Siding (February 9, 2026)

    Chief building official · retrieved 2026-10-01

    Explains the siding invoices and asks for money from the Stability Reserve.

12. Staff reports: Flynn Bridge Replacement (February 3, 2025) and Flynn Bridge Update (July 7, 2025)

    Manager of public works · retrieved 2026-10-01

    The July 7, 2025 update gives the revised $492,870.25 price and why it changed.

13. Staff reports: Update Rattie Road (June 22, 2026) and Follow Up (August 10, 2026)

    Manager of public works · retrieved 2026-10-01

    The conservation authority’s requirements and the options and costs for Rattie Road.

14. Council minutes, November 21, 2022 to July 13, 2026

    Township clerk · retrieved 2026-10-01

    The 88 sets of minutes we read for closed sessions and declarations of interest.

15. 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 85 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.