Auditing Enterprise: what the city's budget records show
Enterprise budgets $1.6 million in its general fund for fiscal 2027, plus separate water, sewer and electric utility funds. This explainer sets out the figures in the budget report the city filed with the state.
Continuing story: Auditing Enterprise
Auditing Enterprise is The Utah Ledger's series on the public finances of Enterprise, a Washington County city. Each story rests on records the city or the state has published, and each figure links to the record it comes from. [1][2]
This first piece sets out what Enterprise's fiscal 2027 budget report shows. The report, printed Aug. 4, 2026, was filed in the state's public repository of local government budgets. It covers the year that runs from July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027. [1]
The general fund
The general fund pays for city government, public safety, roads, parks and recreation. Its fiscal 2027 annual budget lists $1,616,500 in revenue and $1,616,500 in spending. [1]
Taxes make up $905,000 of that revenue, including $475,000 from sales and use taxes and $235,000 from current-year property taxes. The budget also lists $200,000 from the state's Class C road fund, $130,000 in refuse collection charges, $125,000 in ambulance charges and $100,000 in interest earnings. [1]
On the spending side, the budget lists $482,900 for general government, $502,200 for public safety, $316,000 for highways and public improvements and $315,400 for parks, recreation and public property. Ambulance service is the largest public safety line, at $278,700. [1]
For comparison, a fiscal 2026 general fund worksheet in the packet prepared for the council's June 10 meeting lists an original expenditure budget of $1,691,500 and a revised budget of $2,228,500. [2]
Other city funds
An emergency services fund, which covers fire protection and wildland firefighting, budgets $625,000 in revenue and $775,000 in spending. Its largest revenue line is a $600,000 wildland fire contract. [1]
A capital projects and equipment fund budgets $500,000 for capital outlay on projects and equipment, against $500,000 in miscellaneous revenue and $3,000 in interest. [1]
The city's three utilities are budgeted as enterprise funds. The water fund lists $460,000 in operating income and $446,100 in operating expense. Its budget includes $90,000 in debt-service principal and $15,000 in interest. [1]
The sewer fund lists $455,000 in operating income and $329,000 in operating expense, including $85,000 of depreciation. Its fiscal 2027 page has no debt-service line. [1]
The electric fund lists $1,288,000 in operating income and $1,513,000 in operating expense, including $1,000,000 for purchased power and $200,000 for other capital outlay. That is a budgeted operating loss of $225,000. [1]
Property tax and debt
The draft resolution in the June 10 packet would adopt the final fiscal 2027 budget and a certified tax rate of 0.001141, "as provided by the Washington County Clerk," effective July 1, 2026. The packet copy is a draft. [2]
The packet's accounts payable list includes a June 8, 2026 payment to the Utah State Division of Finance labeled "WATER BOND," with $41,000 in principal and $5,898.50 in interest. [2]
Figures are budgeted amounts, not actual results. Utility-fund operating expenses in the budget report include budgeted depreciation, which is not a cash payment. The funds are not added together, because they are accounted for separately. Figures from the June 10 packet come from documents prepared for that meeting; the budget resolution in it is a draft.
Sources
- City of Enterprise · Fiscal 2027 operational budget report (state-filed copy)
- Enterprise City Council · June 10, 2026 meeting packet
Background explainer by The Utah Ledger. AI-assisted reporting, checked against the sources above.