Your town, in plain words
A clear, checkable guide to Tweed's budget, taxes and council decisions. A rural municipality of about 6,000 people in Hastings County, around the village of Tweed on Stoco Lake. Every figure links back to the public record.
Follow Tweed in one tapWhere it goes
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.
$3.5Min savings at the end of 2024
Towns keep savings (called reserves) to pay for new trucks, roof repairs and surprises. Tweed had $3.5M saved at the end of 2024, down from $5.7M in 2019. That is 36% of one year's spending. Only 6 of 73 similar towns had less, compared with what they spend.
Found automatically from the town's financial reports · 4 sources
$182,736spent in 2025, against a revised budget of $40,000
For 2025, the town budgeted $40,000 for lawyers and other professionals in its main office. By April 15, 2026, it had spent $182,736. For 2026, it has budgeted $242,900, six times the 2025 plan, plus $40,000 for legal and professional fees in a new storm water budget. It is the third year running far over budget: $66,323 against $22,500 in 2023, and $134,569 against $22,500 in 2024. The town’s July 2026 report says most of the 2026 money pays for people on contract: a treasurer and a facility manager. It has not said what the 2025 money paid for.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 5 sources
+46%office salaries, 2025 budget to 2026 budget
The 2026 budget sets office salaries at $629,434, up from $431,947 in the 2025 budget. The books in April 2026 showed $536,059 spent on salaries in 2025 (the draft year-end says $521,462), so the new budget is also 17% above what was really spent. In 2025, salaries ran over budget, but a $150,000 line for a pay review was mostly unspent, so the two together came in slightly under budget.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 3 sources
0entries in the online registry, checked 2026-09-30
When a council member has a personal stake in a decision, they must declare it and stay out of the discussion and vote. Since 2019, Ontario law says towns must keep a registry of these declarations that the public can inspect. It does not have to be online. The registry on Tweed's meeting portal has no entries, and we could not find one anywhere else online, but the town's own minutes record 41 declarations since 2020, 18 of them by the current council and committee.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 8 sources
The minutes show 8 times since 2020 when a council member stayed out of a decision because a batch of town payments, a staff report or a tender involved a business owned by their family. Most involve one welding business owned by a current councillor's son, which came up at least 6 times between 2020 and 2022 in town payments, staff reports and a tender. Each time, the member declared it and stayed out of the discussion and the vote, which is what the law asks. What residents cannot see is how much these businesses were paid in total, or how they were chosen.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 8 sources
117 of 147council meetings we read had a closed session
Ontario lets councils meet privately for a few reasons, like staff matters, lawsuits or buying land. Tweed's council went behind closed doors at 117 of its 147 council meetings from June 10, 2020 to September 1, 2026. Afterwards, 114 times, it voted in public that "staff follow Council direction from the Closed Meeting", without saying what that direction was.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 8 sources
$60,456spent on the Hannah Street agreement in 2023 and 2024
In 2023 Tweed agreed to take over Hannah Street, a road owned by a private landowner, for its road network. Instead of paying for the land, the town agreed to pay for environmental studies needed to rezone the owner’s other land next door from industrial to housing, pay the owner’s application fees for up to 4 new lots, and waive its own rezoning fee. The town’s books show $60,456 spent in 2023 and 2024, and $7,200 more budgeted for 2026. The same studies also covered a piece of town-owned land nearby.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 5 sources
$1,000the sale price in the 2023 draft agreement, after $16,000 was spent on player equipment in 2021
In 2021 the town started running its own team in the Eastern Ontario Super Hockey League, the Tweed Oil Kings. Council bought $16,000 of player equipment, got a liquor licence to run a bar at home games, and gave the team its own bank account. In late 2023 it sold the team to a private buyer. The draft sale agreement set the price at $1,000, with the team’s equipment, unsold merchandise and unspent sponsorship money going to the buyer. We could not find a report of what the team cost or earned while the town owned it.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 7 sources
Councillor Jacob Palmateer declared a conflict of interest twice in late 2021: once because he was “a current member/player” of the Tweed Oil Kings, and once because he “receives team equipment”. On several other decisions about the team, before and after those declarations, he moved or seconded the motions, including the $16,000 equipment purchase in July 2021 and, in October 2023, the draft sale agreement he was named to help negotiate. The minutes do not say when he joined or left the team.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 7 sources
+19%town property tax, 2023 to 2024
In 2024, Tweed collected $903K more in its own property tax than in 2023. That is a 19% jump, while prices went up about 2.4%. Only 1 of 73 similar towns raised theirs by more. Almost all of it came from a higher tax rate (up 17% for homes); the value of homes on the tax roll grew only 1.0%.
Found automatically from the town's financial reports · 7 sources
+74%running the town office, 2019 to 2024
Tweed spent $980K on running the town office in 2019 and $1.7M in 2024. Prices only went up about 18% in that time. Only 11 of 73 similar towns had faster growth here.
Found automatically from the town's financial reports · 4 sources
+82%parks, arena and library, 2019 to 2024
Tweed spent $718K on parks, arena and library in 2019 and $1.3M in 2024. Prices only went up about 18% in that time. Only 8 of 73 similar towns had faster growth here.
Found automatically from the town's financial reports · 3 sources
$1.1Mowed in unpaid property tax, end of 2024
At the end of 2024, $1.1M of property tax had been billed but not paid. That is 12% of everything billed. Only 8 of 73 similar towns had a higher share. A year earlier it was $719K.
Found automatically from the town's financial reports · 3 sources
$3.7Min temporary loans, end of 2024
At the end of 2024, Tweed owed $3.7M on temporary loans. That is like putting 34% of a year's income on a line of credit. This is short-term borrowing for building projects, which is normal while waiting for a grant or a long-term loan. But it was already $3.5M a year earlier, so it has lasted more than a year. Only 7 of 73 similar towns had any temporary loans at the end of 2024.
Found automatically from the town's financial reports · 3 sources
50%of the 2025 capital budget spent by April 15, 2026
Capital spending means fixing and building things that last: roads, trucks, pipes, buildings. For 2025, council approved $4,478,798. By April 15, 2026, $2,227,852 had been spent. Grants and loans for capital also came in at 43% of plan. For 2026, council has approved almost the same amount again: $4,438,290.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 3 sources
July 8, 2026some residents' taxes withdrawn twice
On July 8, 2026, some residents on the town's pre-authorized tax payment plan had their taxes taken from their bank accounts twice. The Mayor's July 21 message calls it a "software glitch", thanks staff for fixing it and starting to make things right within 24 hours, and says the OPP recognized it was an honest error. Refunds were paid by cheque, available from July 10 on request and July 13 to 15 for everyone else, and the town promised to cover bank fees.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 3 sources
Tweed streams its council meetings on YouTube. Its website says each video stays up only until the minutes are approved. In practice, every regular council meeting since June 25, 2024 is still online. Videos of meetings from 2023 and early 2024 are not.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 2 sources
Every year an outside auditor checks the town’s books, and the town posts the result. Tweed’s records portal has the audited statements for 2009 to 2023. The 2023 ones were signed in May 2024. We could not find the 2024 statements, more than a year later. Staff told council in September 2026 that the 2025 statements should be done by the end of October.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 3 sources
Tweed posts its open tenders on a "Tender Opportunities" page, and says it also buys through two purchasing groups shared with other towns. What we could not find is a record of past tenders: who bid, who won, and for how much. Some awards appear in council minutes, but mostly the bigger ones, and they are hard to find.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 1 source
−$11.2Mnet financial position, 2024
In 2019, Tweed had $4.3M more in cash and money owed to it than it owed to others. By 2024 it was −$11.2M. About 53% of that change ($8.2M) is a new accounting rule from 2023: towns must now record the future cost of closing things like a landfill. That is not new spending or borrowing. Even leaving that out, only 7 of 73 similar towns are in a weaker position.
Found automatically from the town's financial reports · 2 sources
$369per home on garbage, dump and recycling, 2024
Tweed spent about $369 per home on garbage, dump and recycling in 2024. The typical similar town spent $210. Only 8 of 73 similar towns spent more.
Found automatically from the town's financial reports · 1 source
2024 tax year · Tweed, Ontario
Enter your home's assessed value to see roughly what you pay in property tax each year, who gets it, and what Tweed's share pays for.
Ontario still uses property values from January 1, 2016 for tax, so your assessed value is probably well below what your home would sell for today.
It is on your property assessment notice from MPAC, and on your tax bill. We filled in the typical value in Tweed.
a year in property tax, at 2024 rates
Tweed council sets only its own share. Hastings County sets its share, the Province sets the school rate.
An estimate. It uses the residential tax rate, and splits Tweed's share by what each service cost in 2024 after its own fees and grants (for example, water bills pay for much of a water system). Real bills also depend on your property class, local charges and any rebates.
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Each number links to the public document it came from. Check it yourself.
We ask questions. Every one lists ordinary reasons a number could look odd.
Towns are only compared with places of a similar size and kind, from the same yearly reports.
Council meetings are open to the public, and councillors answer to you. How to reach Tweed's council · Council Books is free and paid for by readers: support this work.