Your town, in plain words
A clear, checkable guide to Whitestone's budget, taxes and council decisions. A municipality in the District of Parry Sound, in Northern Ontario, with a mayor and four councillors. Every figure links back to the public record.
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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.
+103%parks, arena and library, 2019 to 2024
Whitestone spent $176K on parks, arena and library in 2019 and $358K in 2024. Prices only went up about 18% in that time. Only 3 of 47 similar towns had faster growth here.
Found automatically from the town's financial reports · 3 sources
+66%roads and snow, 2019 to 2024
Whitestone spent $859K on roads and snow in 2019 and $1.4M in 2024. Prices only went up about 18% in that time. Only 1 of 47 similar towns had faster growth here.
Found automatically from the town's financial reports · 3 sources
$545,565left on the land-purchase loan after 2026 payments, with the loan's end date listed as August 1, 2027
Whitestone borrowed $695,000 from a bank in 2022 to buy land. The town's 2026 debt schedule says the loan matures on 08/01/2027 and still has a balance of $545,565.07 after the 2026 payments. The schedule lists a 15-year term and payments of $5,547.85 a month, which are small compared with the balance. That usually means the rest has to be paid off or renewed (borrowed again) when the loan ends. The audited statements show the town's overall debt went up in 2024, to $2,246,296, and show a large jump in principal due in 2028. We did not find where the town explains how it will handle the end of this loan.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 2 sources
286,908gap between the 2026 planned capital funding and the target in the town's own asset plan
The town's 2024 asset management plan recommends how much it should put toward replacing worn-out assets each year. The 2026 budget book gives the target as 1,124,200 and says the town's planned funding falls short by 286,908. The book also shows a target annual increase of 1.4%. The tax-funded transfer to the asset management reserve rises from 485,000 in 2025 to 555,000 in the 2026 request. At the end of 2024, 15,926,561 of the 28,074,576 cost of the town's assets had been used up (worked out by us: about 57%).
Found by reading the town's own documents · 3 sources
$607,372the town's estimate of what closing and looking after the two landfills will cost, after discounting, at the end of 2024
The audited statements say the town owes a future cost for closing its two landfill sites and caring for them for 15 years afterward. They put the discounted value of that cost at $607,372 at the end of 2024. The notes say the two sites have remaining lives of 4 and 27 years. The town's yearly transfer to its landfill reserve was $10,000 in 2024 and $45,000 in 2025, and the 2026 request is $45,000. We could not read the reserve's balance from the budget book reliably, so we do not give it here.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 3 sources
+9%town property tax, 2023 to 2024
In 2024, Whitestone collected $320K more in its own property tax than in 2023. That is a 9% jump, while prices went up about 2.4%. Only 6 of 47 similar towns raised theirs by more. Almost all of it came from a higher tax rate (up 8% for homes); the value of homes on the tax roll grew only 1.7%.
Found automatically from the town's financial reports · 4 sources
$670Kowed in unpaid property tax, end of 2024
At the end of 2024, $670K of property tax had been billed but not paid. That is 14% of everything billed. Only 11 of 47 similar towns had a higher share. A year earlier it was $543K.
Found automatically from the town's financial reports · 2 sources
$472,906one-time credit on the 2023 landfill line, from a change in accounting rules
In the 2023 statements the landfill line is a negative number, (472,906), meaning it reduced the year's expenses. The town explains why: on January 1, 2023 it switched to a new accounting standard and removed its old landfill liability of 500,800, replacing it with a new obligation of 578,064. The credit is a one-time bookkeeping result of that switch, and it made 2023's surplus look larger than it otherwise would have. The 2024 statements show a normal cost of 29,308 on the same line.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 3 sources
December 16, 2025date of the auditor's report on the 2024 statements; the 2023 report is dated June 18, 2024
The auditor's report on the 2023 statements is dated June 18, 2024. The auditor's report on the 2024 statements is dated December 16, 2025, which is about six months later in the calendar than the year before. The 2025 audited statements were not posted when we looked, which is not surprising at this date. We found no explanation of the later date in the documents we read.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 2 sources
$1,514,800provincial OMPF grant in the town's 2026 request, up from $1,141,600 in 2024
The Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund (OMPF) is a yearly grant from the province to smaller and northern towns. The town's books show it at $1,141,600 for 2024, $1,292,200 for 2025 and $1,514,800 in the 2026 request, an increase of $222,600 in one year. For comparison, the 2026 request for taxation revenue is $3,866,434, so the grant is about 39% as large as the tax levy (worked out by us). Grants can go down as well as up.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 2 sources
8.49%growth in external levies in the 2026 request, against a proposed 2.99% tax rate increase
Whitestone pays set amounts to other bodies for policing, ambulance, social services, the health unit and others. The 2026 request for these "external levies" is $1,153,800, up $90,250 or 8.49% from the 2025 approved budget of $1,063,550. The policing levy line goes from $421,038 to $467,400. The proposed tax rate increase is 2.99%. These amounts are set by other bodies, not by the town.
Found by reading the town's own documents · 3 sources
2024 tax year · Whitestone, Ontario
Enter your home's assessed value to see roughly what you pay in property tax each year, who gets it, and what Whitestone'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 Whitestone.
a year in property tax, at 2024 rates
Whitestone council sets only its own share. the Province sets the school rate.
An estimate. It uses the residential tax rate, and splits Whitestone'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.
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