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 Thorold, and 2025 for 25 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 Thorold, budget documents

   City of Thorold · retrieved 2026-10-01

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

3. City of Thorold, Financial Statements, December 31, 2025 (Doane Grant Thornton LLP, July 21, 2026)

   City of Thorold (auditor: Doane Grant Thornton LLP) · retrieved 2026-10-05

   Audited consolidated statements for 2025, with notes. Clean opinion dated July 21, 2026. 76 PDF pages, all with a readable text layer.

4. City of Thorold, Financial Statements, December 31, 2024

   City of Thorold (auditor: Doane Grant Thornton LLP) · retrieved 2026-10-05

   Audited statements for 2024. Opinion dated September 15, 2025. Read for comparison only; no evidence item cites it.

5. City of Thorold, 2026 Budget, Operating Budget Summary

   City of Thorold · retrieved 2026-10-05

   The 2026 operating budget summary by division, with the 2025 column and the levy change. 3 PDF pages.

6. City of Thorold, 2025 Operating Budget

   City of Thorold · retrieved 2026-10-05

   Downloaded and opened; not used.

7. City of Thorold, 2026 Capital Budget Summary

   City of Thorold · retrieved 2026-10-05

   Downloaded and opened; the text layer scrambles the table columns, so we used none of its figures.

8. Declaration of Interest Registry, 2022-2026 Council Term (updated July 16, 2026)

   City of Thorold · retrieved 2026-10-05

   Read; no finding built on it, because most entries involve relatives or are routine declarations made properly.

9. 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 lower-tier municipalities with 60% to 160% of this population that had filed their 2025 return, in 2025. This gives 25 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.