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 Waterloo, and 2025 for 9 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 Waterloo, council remuneration and expense statements

   City of Waterloo · retrieved 2026-10-05

   What each council member was paid, and spent on benefits and expenses, 2022 to 2024. One statement a year; the link is the latest, and the council page links each year.

3. City of Waterloo, budget documents

   City of Waterloo · retrieved 2026-10-01

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

4. Audited Consolidated Financial Statements, Year Ended December 31, 2025

   City of Waterloo, audited by KPMG LLP · retrieved 2026-10-05

   The city’s audited statements for 2025 (36 pages), with the 2024 comparison.

5. Audited Consolidated Financial Statements, Year Ended December 31, 2024

   City of Waterloo, audited by KPMG LLP · retrieved 2026-10-05

   The 2024 statements, read for the auditor’s report date.

6. Approved 2024-2026 Operating Budget Book

   City of Waterloo · retrieved 2026-10-05

   The approved three-year operating budget (60 pages): tax increases, budget changes, staffing.

7. Approved 2024-2026 Capital Budget and 2027-2033 Capital Forecast

   City of Waterloo · retrieved 2026-10-05

   The approved capital budget and ten-year forecast (101 pages): financing, reserve fund forecasts, debt.

8. Approved 2024-2026 Business Plans

   City of Waterloo · retrieved 2026-10-05

   Department business plans behind the budget (233 pages). Searched; nothing cited.

9. Annual Statement of Remuneration and Expenses for Elected Officials, 2024 (CORP2025-004)

   City of Waterloo, Treasurer · retrieved 2026-10-05

   Council pay and expenses for 2024, as required by section 284 of the Municipal Act.

10. Statement of Remuneration and Expenses for Elected Officials, 2023

    City of Waterloo, Treasurer · retrieved 2026-10-05

    Council pay and expenses for 2023.

11. Statement of Remuneration and Expenses for Elected Officials, 2022

    City of Waterloo, Treasurer · retrieved 2026-10-05

    Council pay and expenses for 2022.

12. 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 9 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.