Follow the payments
Who was paid, how much, and do we know what it was for?
This is me using AI to learn, organize public records and share what I find. It is a guided AI-assisted app, not a municipal system and not an official interpretation. AI can make mistakes, so the source documents are linked throughout. Check the work.
Search the disclosure
Search, filter and sort the people, suppliers and public bodies named in North Cowichan's report. The same search also checks the supporting public-record facts below, including the separate fire halls. The spending-area categories and expense-status notes are working classifications based on the records available. The invoice is still needed to confirm many of them.
| What does the SOFI tell us? | Approximate Canadian income band | Separate SOFI expenses | Source |
|---|
This appears to be North Cowichan's RCMP policing contract, not taxes being remitted. The payee and amount point that way, but the public reports I reviewed do not directly connect the SOFI payment to the 2025 RCMP invoice. RCMP contract-policing information.
This is likely a mix of employee pension deductions and North Cowichan's employer contributions to the Municipal Pension Plan. Only the employer share is a municipal compensation expense. The SOFI does not split the two. How Municipal Pension Plan contributions work.
The $2,255,887 payment exactly matches North Cowichan's 2025 VIRL operating and capital levy. It funds the regional library system, not a single invoice. VIRL and North Cowichan list two branches in the municipality: Cowichan and Chemainus. VIRL 2025 financial plan.
Enumclaw is in Washington State. The $706,300 payment appears to be the used ladder truck purchased for the Chemainus station. North Cowichan's fire report confirms the purchase, but does not name the seller or connect the report to this payment. 2025 Fire Department report.
| Service or hall | Year | Actual spending | What it includes | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| General fire protection | 2024 | $789,795 | Department-wide fire protection | Annual Report |
| Chemainus fire hall | 2024 | $533,490 | Hall operations | Annual Report |
| Crofton fire hall | 2024 | $467,808 | Hall operations | Annual Report |
| Maple Bay fire hall | 2024 | $542,996 | Hall operations | Annual Report |
| South End fire hall | 2024 | $857,619 | Hall operations | Annual Report |
| Total fire protection | 2024 | $3,191,708 | General fire protection plus the four halls | Annual Report |
| All protective services | 2025 | $18,943,721 | Police, fire, inspections, animal control and other protection. A 2025 four-hall breakdown was not found. | Annual Report |
Invoices have to be asked for. They are not included in the SOFI, and I did not find a public invoice register. Residents can ask North Cowichan Financial Services for the invoice, contract, purchase order and payment record using the payee, amount and year. If the records are not routinely released, they can be requested through North Cowichan's Access to Records process or its FOI request form. Some information may need to be redacted, but invoices and payment details should be published instead of making residents ask for them.
Collected on the property tax bill
CVRD and Cowichan Valley Regional Hospital District taxes are added as separate charges on North Cowichan property-tax bills. Property owners pay them to North Cowichan along with municipal property tax. North Cowichan then sends the money to the regional bodies. They do not come out of North Cowichan's municipal-tax portion.
I found the cash-payment total in the 2025 SOFI and the tax-forwarding amount in the 2025 Annual Report. More detailed records may exist elsewhere, but I did not find a public schedule connecting the two. The 2025 tax breakdown shows these regional charges on the average property-tax bill. This should be easier to understand.
Income context
What should change
North Cowichan should publish the amount, department, category and purpose of every major municipal expense. That applies to suppliers, consultants, grants, programs and employee compensation.
For employee compensation, residents should be able to see what each position entails, what responsibilities come with it and where it fits in the organization. The national income bands above are provided as factual context. They do not say whether a person is worth the amount or whether the position is necessary. Those are separate questions that require more information than the SOFI provides.
