Sources and methods

Where every number comes from

We only use official government documents and open data as the source of a number. News reports are used only to double-check them. Everything here, including the code, is public so anyone can check our work.

How we rate each number

• ✓ VerifiedFrom an official source, and an independent source agrees.
• ◌ Single sourceFrom an official source; we haven't found an independent check yet.
• ⚠ Sources disagreeOfficial sources give different numbers. We show both and explain why.
• Reported, not officialReported in the news but not in any official document. Never presented as fact.

We also say whether each number is a budget (a plan) or an actual (what was really spent), and whether it is gross (the total cost) or net (the part the government pays itself). Charts show gross unless they say otherwise.

Datasets

Downloaded unchanged by our pipeline. The fingerprint (SHA-256) lets anyone confirm we used the same file.

Every number in the story

How we grouped spending

Toronto and Ontario organize their budgets differently. To compare them, we put every budget line into one shared set of categories. These are our choices, so here they are in full. If you think a line belongs somewhere else, tell us.

City of Toronto programs (135 lines)

Budget line	Our category	Notes
311 toronto	Government & debt	Older name for the city's 311 phone/web service (now Customer Experience).
administrative support recoveries health & ems	Government & debt	Corporate account.
administrative support recoveries water	Government & debt	Corporate account.
affordable housing office	Housing & shelter	Older name, folded into Housing Secretariat.
arena boards of management	Parks, rec & culture	Community arenas run by local boards.
assessment function (mpac)	Government & debt	Fee the city pays MPAC to assess property values.
association of community centres	Parks, rec & culture	Community centres run by local boards (AOCCs).
auditor general's office	Government & debt	Accountability office.
capital & corporate financing	Government & debt	Debt charges and money moved to the capital budget.
capital from current	Government & debt	Operating money set aside to pay for capital projects.
casino woodbine revenues	Government & debt	Corporate account.
children's services	Social services	Child care subsidies and licensing. Mostly cost-shared with the Province and Ottawa (gross much larger than net).
city clerk's office	Government & debt	Runs council meetings, elections, records.
city council	Government & debt	Councillors' offices and staff.
city manager services	Government & debt	City Manager's office.
city manager services (excluding fifa)	Government & debt	City Manager's office.
city manager services (fifa only)	Other	FIFA World Cup 2026 hosting costs, budgeted under the City Manager.
city manager's office	Government & debt	Older name for City Manager services.
city planning	Other	Land-use planning.
corporate real estate management	Government & debt	Manages city-owned buildings and land.
court services	Police & justice	Provincial Offences courts (tickets, by-law charges).
createto	Other	City real-estate agency.
customer experience	Government & debt	311 and service counters.
debt charges	Government & debt	Interest and principal on city debt.
development review	Other	Reviews building and development applications.
dividend income	Government & debt	Corporate account.
economic development & culture	Parks, rec & culture	Older spelling.
economic development and culture	Parks, rec & culture	Arts and culture grants, museums, business support.
engineering & construction services	Roads, water & infrastructure	Older spelling.
engineering and construction services	Roads, water & infrastructure	Designs and builds roads, bridges, water infrastructure.
environment & climate	Other	Older name.
environment & energy	Other	Older name.
environment and climate	Other	Older name.
environment, climate and forestry	Other	Climate programs and urban forestry (tree care) since 2026.
exhibition place	Parks, rec & culture	Exhibition grounds (CNE, BMO Field).
facilities, real estate, environment & energy	Government & debt	Older combined division (city buildings).
financial operations and control	Government & debt	Accounting, payroll, tax collection.
fire services	Fire & paramedics	Older name.
fleet services	Government & debt	City vehicles.
funding of employee related liabilities	Government & debt	Corporate account.
grouping capital levies (cbf and special scarborough transit	Not counted	City Building Fund levy (capital), not part of the $18.9B operating total.
growth and tax increase*	Not counted	Parser artefact: this row is the levy operating total, not a program.
heritage property taxes rebate	Government & debt	Corporate account.
heritage toronto	Parks, rec & culture	Heritage plaques and programs.
housing secretariat	Housing & shelter	Affordable housing programs, rent supports, Toronto Community Housing funding.
information & technology	Government & debt	Older name for Technology Services.
insurance contributions	Government & debt	Corporate account.
integrity commissioner's office	Government & debt	Older name.
interest/investment earnings	Government & debt	Corporate account.
legal services	Government & debt	City lawyers.
long term care homes & services	Health	Older name for Seniors Services and Long-Term Care.
mayor's office	Government & debt	Mayor's staff.
municipal accommodation tax (mat)	Government & debt	Corporate account (hotel tax).
municipal land transfer tax	Government & debt	Corporate account.
municipal licensing & standards	Other	Older spelling.
municipal licensing and standards	Other	By-law enforcement, business licences, animal services.
non program expenditures	Government & debt	Corporate accounts not tied to a service.
non program revenues	Government & debt	Corporate accounts not tied to a service.
non program taxation tax levy	Government & debt	Corporate account.
office of emergency management	Fire & paramedics	Older name.
office of the chief financial officer	Government & debt	Older name.
office of the chief financial officer and treasurer	Government & debt	Finance leadership.
office of the chief information security officer	Government & debt	Older name for Toronto Cyber Security.
office of the controller	Government & debt	Older finance division.
office of the integrity commissioner	Government & debt	Accountability office.
office of the lobbyist registrar	Government & debt	Accountability office.
office of the ombudsman	Government & debt	Accountability office.
other corporate expenditures	Government & debt	Corporate account (negative in 2026: a net saving).
other corporate revenues	Government & debt	Corporate account.
other tax revenues	Government & debt	Corporate account.
parking authority revenues	Government & debt	Corporate account.
parking tag enforcement & operations exp	Government & debt	Cost of processing parking tickets.
parking tag enforcement & operations rev	Government & debt	Corporate account.
parks and recreation	Parks, rec & culture	Parks, community centres, pools, recreation programs.
parks, forestry & recreation	Parks, rec & culture	Older name (included urban forestry).
parks, recreation and forestry	Parks, rec & culture	Older name (included urban forestry).
payments in lieu of taxes	Government & debt	Corporate account.
policy, planning, finance & administration	Government & debt	Older spelling.
policy, planning, finance and admin	Government & debt	Admin support for infrastructure divisions.
programs funded from reserve funds	Government & debt	Corporate account.
provincial revenue	Government & debt	Corporate account.
sankofa square	Parks, rec & culture	Public square (formerly Yonge-Dundas Square).
seniors services and long term care	Health	The city's 10 long-term care homes and seniors services. Mapped to Health, like Ontario's Long-Term Care ministry.
shelter, support & housing administration	Housing & shelter	Older name for Toronto Shelter and Support Services.
social development	Social services	Community safety and anti-poverty programs.
social development, finance & administration	Social services	Older name.
solid waste management services	Roads, water & infrastructure	Garbage, recycling, green bin. Paid for by fees, not property tax.
solid waste management services rebate	Government & debt	Corporate account.
supplementary taxes	Government & debt	Corporate account.
tax deficiencies / write offs	Government & debt	Corporate account.
tax increment equivalent grants (tieg)	Government & debt	Business development grants paid back from new tax.
tax increment funding (tif)	Government & debt	Corporate account.
tax penalty revenue	Government & debt	Corporate account.
technology services	Government & debt	City IT.
technology sustainment	Government & debt	Corporate IT reserve contribution.
theatres	Parks, rec & culture	Older name for TO Live.
third party sign tax	Government & debt	Corporate account.
to live	Parks, rec & culture	City-owned theatres (Meridian Hall, St. Lawrence Centre).
toronto & region conservation authority	Other	Older spelling.
toronto and region conservation authority	Other	Flood control, conservation lands, waterfront erosion.
toronto atmospheric fund	Other	Climate investment agency.
toronto building	Other	Building permits and inspections. Fee-funded (net is negative).
toronto cyber security	Government & debt	City cybersecurity.
toronto emergency management	Fire & paramedics	Emergency planning.
toronto employment & social services	Social services	Older spelling.
toronto employment and social services	Social services	Ontario Works (social assistance) and employment help. Mostly funded by the Province.
toronto fire services	Fire & paramedics	Firefighters and fire stations.
toronto paramedic services	Fire & paramedics	Ambulances. About half funded by the Province.
toronto parking authority	Other	Green P parking. Fee-funded.
toronto police service	Police & justice	Toronto Police Service operating budget.
toronto police service board	Police & justice	Civilian board overseeing the police.
toronto police services board	Police & justice	Older spelling.
toronto public health	Health	Public health (vaccines, inspections, sexual health, dental for kids). Mostly provincially funded.
toronto public library	Parks, rec & culture	100 library branches.
toronto shelter and support services	Housing & shelter	Emergency shelters, refugee shelters, street outreach.
toronto transit commission conventional	Transit	Subway, bus and streetcar service.
toronto transit commission wheel trans	Transit	Accessible door-to-door transit.
toronto water	Roads, water & infrastructure	Drinking water, sewers, stormwater. Paid for by water bills, not property tax.
toronto zoo	Parks, rec & culture	Toronto Zoo (in Scarborough, Ward 25).
transit expansion	Transit	City office planning new transit lines.
transportation services	Roads, water & infrastructure	Roads, sidewalks, traffic signals, snow clearing.
vacant home tax	Government & debt	Corporate account.
yonge dundas square	Parks, rec & culture	Older name for Sankofa Square.
parks & recreation	Parks, rec & culture	Capital-file spelling.
toronto community housing corporation	Housing & shelter	Repairs to Toronto Community Housing buildings (capital).
wastewater program	Roads, water & infrastructure	Sewers and treatment plants (capital, Toronto Water).
water program	Roads, water & infrastructure	Water mains and plants (capital, Toronto Water).
scarborough subway extension	Transit	City's capital share of the Line 2 extension (Metrolinx builds it).
spadina subway extension	Transit	Line 1 extension to Vaughan (capital close-out).
transit studies	Transit	Planning studies for future transit lines (capital).
toronto transit commission	Transit	TTC capital: vehicles, track, stations.
waterfront revitalization initiative	Roads, water & infrastructure	Waterfront Toronto flood protection and renewal (capital).
environment, climate & forestry	Other	Capital-file spelling.
financial operations & control	Government & debt	Capital-file spelling.
accountability offices	Government & debt	Auditor General, Integrity Commissioner, Lobbyist Registrar, Ombudsman (capital-file grouping).

Ontario ministries (31 lines)

Budget line	Our category	Notes
Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness (Total)	Other	Includes demand-driven farm risk-management programs.
Attorney General (Total)	Police & justice	Courts, Crown prosecutors, Legal Aid. Part of the Justice sector.
Board of Internal Economy (Total)	Government & debt	Runs the Legislative Assembly (MPP offices, Legislature).
Children, Community and Social Services (Total)	Social services	Ontario Works, ODSP, autism services, child welfare, developmental services.
Citizenship and Multiculturalism (Total)	Other
Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security (Total)	Education	Colleges and universities, plus OSAP student aid. The Budget reports this as its own 'Postsecondary' sector; we group it under Education.
Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade (Total)	Other	Includes business tax credits ($758.3M) and time-limited investments.
Education (Total)	Education	Funding for school boards, child care, and the teachers' pension plan. The Budget's 'Education sector' figure leaves out the pension, so it is smaller; we never show both in the same chart.
Emergency Preparedness and Response (Total)	Other	Q1 2026-27 adds $140M for First Nations evacuations on behalf of Indigenous Services Canada.
Energy and Mines (Total)	Other	Mostly Electricity Cost Relief Programs ($6,913.1M) that lower hydro bills; also high-speed internet.
Environment, Conservation and Parks (Total)	Other	Includes provincial parks but is mostly environmental regulation; kept in Other.
Executive Offices (Total)	Government & debt	Premier's office and Cabinet Office.
Finance (Total)	Government & debt	Includes Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund ($600.0M, unconditional grants to mostly rural/northern municipalities) and IMCO. Ministry administration and tax collection.
Francophone Affairs (Total)	Other
Health (Total)	Health	OHIP (doctors), hospitals, prescription drugs, home care. Together with Long-Term Care it makes up the Budget's Health sector.
Indigenous Affairs and First Nations Economic Reconciliation (Total)	Other
Infrastructure (Total)	Roads, water & infrastructure	Includes Municipal Infrastructure Program ($600.0M), Realty ($1,655.2M, government buildings), Waterfront Toronto Port Lands flood protection ($35.0M). Operating expense only; most provincial capital spending is in Table 3.11 and is not an expense line.
Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development (Total)	Other	Employment and training programs ($1,631.1M, incl. Skills Development Fund) and co-op education tax credit.
Long-Term Care (Total)	Health	Long-term care homes. Most of this money flows through Ontario Health and hospitals.
Municipal Affairs and Housing (Total)	Housing & shelter	Q1 2026-27 raises to $1,994.3M (+$200M Toronto New Deal shelter/homelessness). Time-limited investments $991.3M.
Natural Resources (Total)	Other	Includes emergency forest firefighting ($150.0M).
Northern Economic Development and Growth (Total)	Other
Public and Business Service Delivery and Procurement (Total)	Government & debt	ServiceOntario, government IT and procurement.
Rural Affairs (Total)	Other
Seniors and Accessibility (Total)	Social services	Includes Seniors Tax Credit ($100.2M).
Solicitor General (Total)	Police & justice	OPP, correctional services, Fire Marshal, coroner. Part of the Justice sector. (Fire Marshal portion cannot be split out from Table 3.10.)
Sport (Total)	Parks, rec & culture	Includes Community Sport and Recreation Infrastructure Fund time-limited investments ($221.2M).
Tourism, Culture and Gaming (Total)	Parks, rec & culture	Includes Ontario Cultural Media Tax Credits ($1,046.2M) for film/TV/games.
Transportation (Total)	Transit	Day-to-day costs of Metrolinx/GO Transit, transit support to cities, and provincial highways; the Budget doesn't split them. Building new transit lines is capital spending and isn't counted here.
Treasury Board Secretariat (Total)	Government & debt	Benefits for government employees and retirees, plus contingency funds: money set aside and later spent by other ministries.
Interest and Other Debt Servicing Charges	Government & debt	Interest on Ontario's debt (net of interest capitalized during construction).

What we can't show (yet)

• Most city building money can't be traced to a neighbourhood. About 87.3% of Toronto's 10-year capital plan is coded “City Wide” (TTC vehicles, water mains, police systems). Scarborough benefits from that money, but nobody publishes how much.
• Toronto's 2026 spending by detailed line isn't in Open Data yet. We use the 2026 Budget Summary PDF for 2026, and the Open Data files for earlier years. The two don't use exactly the same totals, so we never put them in the same chart.
• Per-school data (repair backlogs, new builds, closures) is planned for a later version.
• Contracts, lobbying and full council voting records are a separate future project.

Notes on the five-year trend charts

• UNITS: all values $ millions (nominal, not inflation-adjusted) except 'ontario-per-person-total-expense' which is whole dollars per person.
• BASIS: consolidated provincial expense (includes hospitals, school boards, colleges, children's aid societies). Sector figures are program expense; 'interest' is Interest and Other Debt Servicing Charges; total = programs + interest.
• TOTALS (total, total-programs, interest, revenue, surplus-deficit) come from 2026 Ontario Budget Table 3.12 for all six years, as instructed. 2025-26 is the budget's INTERIM figure. The Public Accounts 2025-26 (released 2026-09-24) later reported ACTUAL 2025-26 total expense of $236,336M and a deficit of $13.0B; those are in the separate 'ontario-public-accounts-2025-26-basis' block. Do not mix the two blocks in one chart without labelling.
• SECTORS use the latest document that reports each year by sector: 2021-22 from Public Accounts 2025-26 MD&A text (restated, p.19-20); 2022-23 from Public Accounts 2023-24 Table 3 (2022-23 restated column); 2023-24 from Public Accounts 2024-25 Table 3 (2023-24 restated column); 2024-25 actual, 2025-26 interim and 2026-27 plan from 2026 Budget Table 3.7. 2024-25 and 2025-26 sector values were chosen from the Budget (not Public Accounts 2025-26) so they sit on the same basis as the 2026-27 plan and add to the Table 3.12 totals.
• Sector values from Budget tables are published only to one decimal in $ billions, so they are rounded to the nearest $100M; sums can differ from Table 3.12 totals by up to a few hundred $M.
• BREAK - Teachers' Pension Plan (TPP): the Education sector EXCLUDES the TPP expense (about $1.7-2.2B/yr), which is counted in Other Programs (2026 Budget Table 3.7 note 1; PA 2025-26 Table 3 note 3). The Ministry of Education total in Table 3.10 INCLUDES it ($42,549.1M in 2026-27 vs sector $40.8B). Never chart the ministry figure and the sector figure together.
• BREAK - COVID-19: in the 2023 and 2024 Budgets, COVID-19 time-limited funding ($10.9B in 2021-22, $6.3B in 2022-23) and 'Other One-Time Expenses' ($6.3B in 2022-23) were shown as separate lines, not in sectors. The Public Accounts sector figures used here INCLUDE COVID spending inside sectors. 'covid-time-limited' (PA 2022-23 Table 4) is a memo line already contained in the sector values - do NOT add it on top. Health COVID spending was $6.2B in 2021-22 and $3.3B in 2022-23, which inflates those years' health numbers.
• BREAK - Interest restatement: beginning with the 2025 Budget, interest and investment income was moved to revenue and out of Interest and Other Debt Servicing Charges for all years (Table 3.12 note 2). Older documents (e.g. 2023 Budget total expense 2021-22 = $183.0B; PA 2022-23 interest $12.4B for 2022-23) are on the old basis and will not match the Table 3.12 values used here ($183,822M; $13,935M). Fiscally neutral.
• BREAK - Ministry reclassifications: each Budget restates ministry and sector history for reorganizations (2026 Budget Table 3.10 note 1). E.g. 2021-22 health was $75.8B in PA 2022-23 but $75.4B in PA 2025-26; 2024-25 health was $91.6B in PA 2024-25, $91.3B in the 2026 Budget and $90.9B in PA 2025-26.
• BREAK - Employer Health Tax (EHT) elimination: Public Accounts 2025-26 restated 2024-25 to eliminate inter-entity EHT revenue and expense (Note 17), lowering 2024-25 total expense from $227,251M to $226,035M and revenue from $226,161M to $224,900M (deficit unchanged). The 2026-27 plan has NOT yet been restated this way, so PA-basis actuals and the Budget plan are not perfectly comparable (~$1.2B).
• BREAK - Net debt definition changes for 2026-27 onward (Table 3.12 notes 4,6-8); not used in this file.
• LONG-TERM CARE: Table 3.10 shows Long-Term Care ministry at $9,354M for 2026-27, but notes $8.0B of that is spent through Ontario Health/hospitals and is consolidated in Health. Both are inside the Health sector.
• PER-PERSON: 'ontario-per-person-total-expense' = Table 3.12 total expense / Table 3.12 population (July 1). Calculated by Follow the Budget from official figures; nominal dollars, not inflation-adjusted. Note the 2026-27 First Quarter Finances (2026-08-14) revised July 2026 population to 16,099 thousand (vs 16,232 in the Budget), which would raise 2026-27 per-person spending to about $15,177 using the Q1 total of $244,340M.
• PLAN UPDATE: 2026-27 First Quarter Finances (published 2026-08-14) raised 2026-27 total expense to $244,340M (+$140M; incl. +$200M Toronto New Deal shelter/homelessness funding offset by contingency drawdown); deficit unchanged at $13.8B. This file keeps the Budget plan figure ($244,200M).
• Approved operating budgets, gross expenditures, from the City's Open Data 'Operating Budget Program Summary' files (2019–2025).
• Tax-supported programs only. Water, garbage and parking are left out because the way their spending is reported changed in 2022.
• These files include internal charges between City divisions, so their totals are higher than the City's headline budget. They are used for direction of change only.
• 2026 is not included because it has not been published in this format; 2026 figures elsewhere on the site come from the 2026 Budget Summary.

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