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 Tyendinaga, and 2024 for 52 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 Tyendinaga, council remuneration and expense statements

   Township of Tyendinaga · 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 Tyendinaga, budget documents

   Township of Tyendinaga · retrieved 2026-10-01

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

4. 2026 Budget Documents

   Township of Tyendinaga · retrieved 2026-10-01

   The 2026 budget worksheets (22 pages): revenue and spending by department and account, capital projects, and the reserve and reserve fund report.

5. 2025 budget package (second draft)

   Township of Tyendinaga · retrieved 2026-10-01

   Posted as the 2025 final budget package (35 pages); shows 2024 budget, 2024 unaudited actuals and the 2025 second-draft budget by account.

6. 2024 consolidated financial statements

   Township of Tyendinaga (auditor: Baker Tilly KDN LLP) · retrieved 2026-10-01

   Audited statements for 2024 (39 pages): clean opinion dated December 5, 2025, reserves note, 2023 restatement, segment disclosure.

7. 2023 consolidated financial statements

   Township of Tyendinaga (auditor: Baker Tilly KDN LLP) · retrieved 2026-10-01

   Audited statements for 2023 (38 pages), auditor’s report dated January 8, 2025.

8. 2022 consolidated financial statements

   Township of Tyendinaga (auditor: Baker Tilly KDN LLP) · retrieved 2026-10-01

   Audited statements for 2022 (31 pages), auditor’s report dated February 7, 2024.

9. 2025 Asset Management Plan

   Township of Tyendinaga (prepared by PSD Citywide Inc.) · retrieved 2026-10-01

   Replacement cost of the township’s assets ($190.6 million), yearly funding gap and funding scenarios (98 pages).

10. Council agenda package, September 16, 2026

    Township of Tyendinaga · retrieved 2026-10-01

    Includes the draft 2025 financial statements and the auditor’s letter (pages 34 to 91), the treasurer’s report on them (page 166) and the Lonsdale Bridge North report (page 168).

11. Council agenda package, September 2, 2026

    Township of Tyendinaga · retrieved 2026-10-01

    Includes the staff report on closing Lonsdale Bridge North and its 2024 inspection report (pages 106 to 144).

12. Council agenda package, March 18, 2026

    Township of Tyendinaga · retrieved 2026-10-01

    Includes the 2025 council remuneration report (pages 137 to 139).

13. Council agenda package, February 18, 2026

    Township of Tyendinaga · retrieved 2026-10-01

    Includes the treasurer’s report adopting the 2026 budget and levy (pages 61 to 63).

14. Council agenda package, January 28, 2026

    Township of Tyendinaga · retrieved 2026-10-01

    Includes the 2024 Asset Management Plan and its council presentation (pages 17 to 30 and 142 onward).

15. Council agenda package, November 19, 2025

    Township of Tyendinaga · retrieved 2026-10-01

    Includes the auditor’s report to council on the 2024 audit (pages 38 to 48) and the treasurer’s report on the 2024 draft statements (pages 147 and 148).

16. Council agenda package, June 4, 2025

    Township of Tyendinaga · retrieved 2026-10-01

    Includes the report awarding the sand dome roof tender with all nine bids (pages 33 and 34).

17. Council agenda package, April 3, 2025

    Township of Tyendinaga · retrieved 2026-10-01

    Includes the 2025 budget and levy report (pages 276 to 278) and the 2024 council remuneration report (page 275).

18. Council agenda package, March 5, 2025

    Township of Tyendinaga · retrieved 2026-10-01

    Includes By-law 16-2025 with the council pay schedule for 2025 to 2028 (pages 187 to 189) and the salary policy report (page 98).

19. Council agenda package, January 22, 2025

    Township of Tyendinaga · retrieved 2026-10-01

    Includes the blue box recycling transition report (pages 58 to 60).

20. Council agenda package, December 20, 2023

    Township of Tyendinaga · retrieved 2026-10-01

    Includes the minutes of November 22, 2023 with the recorded vote on council pay (pages 11 to 15).

21. Council agenda package, November 22, 2023

    Township of Tyendinaga · retrieved 2026-10-01

    Includes the council compensation review report (pages 44 to 46).

22. Purchasing and Procurement Policy

    Township of Tyendinaga · retrieved 2026-10-01

    The township’s purchasing rules (44 pages), including how tenders are scored and when council must approve an award.

23. 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 52 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.