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 2022 for Tehkummah, and 2022 for 36 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 Tehkummah, budget documents

   Township of Tehkummah · retrieved 2026-10-01

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

3. Consolidated Financial Statements for the year ended December 31, 2022 (MNP LLP)

   Township of Tehkummah (auditor: MNP LLP) · retrieved 2026-10-07

   23 PDF pages with a text layer. Used for the landfill note, the accumulated surplus note, the 2022 budget column and the debt note.

4. Consolidated Financial Statements for the year ended December 31, 2021 (MNP LLP)

   Township of Tehkummah (auditor: MNP LLP) · retrieved 2026-10-07

   23 PDF pages with a text layer. Used for the auditor's report date.

5. Public documents page, Township of Tehkummah

   Township of Tehkummah · retrieved 2026-10-07

   The list of posted documents. Used to see which yearly statements are posted.

6. Special Council Meeting Minutes, September 3, 2025

   Township of Tehkummah · retrieved 2026-10-07

   One page. The 2025 budget overview.

7. Council Meeting Minutes, September 9, 2025

   Township of Tehkummah · retrieved 2026-10-07

   The 2025 levy and the snowplow loan.

8. Council Meeting Minutes, October 9, 2025

   Township of Tehkummah · retrieved 2026-10-07

   Surplus equipment, closed session.

9. Special Council Meeting Minutes, December 18, 2025

   Township of Tehkummah · retrieved 2026-10-07

   Provincial funding withheld, tax rate bylaw, extension of the outside firm's engagement.

10. Special Council Meeting Minutes, December 22, 2025

    Township of Tehkummah · retrieved 2026-10-07

    A second tax rate bylaw.

11. Council Meeting Minutes, August 28, 2025

    Township of Tehkummah · retrieved 2026-10-07

    Closed session.

12. Special Council Meeting Minutes, November 13, 2025

    Township of Tehkummah · retrieved 2026-10-07

    Closed session.

13. Special Council Meeting Minutes, November 20, 2025

    Township of Tehkummah · retrieved 2026-10-07

    Closed session.

14. Regular Council Meeting Minutes, December 2, 2025

    Township of Tehkummah · retrieved 2026-10-07

    Closed session.

15. Regular Council Meeting Minutes, January 13, 2026

    Township of Tehkummah · retrieved 2026-10-07

    Closed session and the list of open items, including the 2023 audit.

16. Public meeting agenda, September 15, 2026

    Township of Tehkummah · retrieved 2026-10-07

    Two pages. Lists the outside firm's engagement as an agenda item.

17. Special Council Meeting Minutes, December 8, 2025

    Township of Tehkummah · retrieved 2026-10-07

    Closed session.

18. Special Council Meeting Minutes, December 15, 2025

    Township of Tehkummah · retrieved 2026-10-07

    Closed session.

19. February 2026 Newsletter

    Township of Tehkummah · retrieved 2026-10-07

    Landfill hours and a request to separate recyclables to extend the landfill's life. Not used as evidence.

20. 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 single-tier municipalities with 60% to 160% of this population that had filed their 2022 return, in 2022. This gives 36 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.