Auditing Kanab: what the city's audit and budget votes show

This series follows Kanab's money through the city's own public records: its audited financial statements, its budgets and the council votes that approve them. Each story links to the record it relies on.

Kanab's most recent audited statements cover the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2025. The St. George firm HintonBurdick issued an unmodified opinion dated Oct. 27, 2025, saying the statements present fairly, in all material respects, the city's financial position. ^[1]

Size and reserves

In fiscal 2025 the general fund, which covers general government, public safety, public works, parks and recreation and community development, took in $7,234,500 and spent $5,603,344. It transferred $1,003,977 to other city funds. ^[4]

The general fund ended the year with a $2,745,395 fund balance. Of that, $2,099,888 was unassigned, $250,000 was assigned to equipment replacement and $265,462 to sick leave reimbursement. All of the city's governmental funds together held $9,067,064. ^[3]

Counting the water, sewer and storm water funds and the city's capital assets, the city's total net position was $35,562,411 at June 30, 2025. ^[2]

Debt

At June 30, 2025 the city owed $1,568,700 on two sales tax revenue bonds, one from 2015 maturing in 2045 and a 2020 refunding bond maturing in 2035. It also owed $810,164 on financed purchases: $208,174 for a fire truck and $601,990 to Zions Bank for a building for the police station. ^[5][6][13]

The water and sewer fund owed $4,657,502 on USDA revenue bonds issued in 2021, at 1.75% interest and maturing in 2061. ^[6]

The audit says the city's direct-placement bonds were placed with the state's Community Impact Board and that interest of 18% would begin to accrue if the city missed scheduled payments. ^[11]

What the auditors flagged

The auditors reported no material weaknesses. They reported one significant deficiency, numbered 2007-001, about year-end adjustments and account reconciliations, and one state compliance finding, 2025-001, about presenting the annual fraud risk assessment to the council. ^[8]

The audit also corrected an error from earlier years: the city had not accrued receivables for certain tax revenues, and the correction increased the general fund's beginning balance by $678,391. A separate note reports one pending lawsuit in which the city could be liable for an amount that is not yet determinable but could be material. ^[7]

The audit lists one blended component unit, the Municipal Building Authority of the City of Kanab. ^[12]

The current budget

On June 9, 2026 the council adopted Resolution 6-1-26 R, setting fiscal 2027 certified revenue-neutral property tax rates of 0.001245 for general operations and 0.000505 for recreation. Council member Peter Banks was absent. ^[9]

On June 23, 2026 the council voted 4-0 to adopt the fiscal 2027 final budget, Resolution 6-6-26 R, with council member Arlon Chamberlain absent. According to the minutes, City Manager Kyler Ludwig said sales tax forecasts by Econowest Associates showed stronger performance than first anticipated and that the budget continues to support capital reserve transfers. ^[10]

This series does not report the adopted fiscal 2027 budget totals.