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 Strathroy-Caradoc, and 2025 for 33 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. Municipality of Strathroy-Caradoc, budget documents

   Municipality of Strathroy-Caradoc · retrieved 2026-10-01

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

3. The Corporation of the Municipality of Strathroy-Caradoc, Consolidated Financial Statements, December 31, 2025 (MNP LLP, August 4, 2026)

   Municipality of Strathroy-Caradoc (auditor: MNP LLP) · retrieved 2026-10-05

   Audited statements for 2025, 38 PDF pages. Clean opinion. We read the statement of operations, the statement of change in net financial assets, the cash flow statement and notes 1 to 25. The statement of financial position (PDF page 6) has no readable text, so nothing in this pack uses it.

4. Revised 2026 Budget Documents, January 16, 2026 (the file the Municipality links as the adopted budget)

   Municipality of Strathroy-Caradoc · retrieved 2026-10-05

   Staff report FIN-2026-01, slides, capital and operating budgets, department detail, debt schedule and the reserves analysis, 119 PDF pages. The slides on reserves and debt (PDF pages 17 to 19) are pictures and were not used.

5. 2026 Proposed Budget, January 13, 2026

   Municipality of Strathroy-Caradoc · retrieved 2026-10-05

   The first version of the Mayor's proposed budget. Read for comparison only.

6. Mayoral Decision Number 2026-02, May 19, 2026

   Mayor of the Municipality of Strathroy-Caradoc · retrieved 2026-10-05

   A written direction asking for reports on reserves, development charges and the proposed debentures.

7. Budget 2026 web page

   Municipality of Strathroy-Caradoc · retrieved 2026-10-05

   Budget key dates and the process under strong mayor powers.

8. 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 2025 return, in 2025. This gives 33 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.