Auditing Lindon: what city records show about its audit, reserves, debt and 2026–27 budget

The Utah Ledger is reviewing Lindon's public financial records in a series called Auditing Lindon. The series reports what audits, budgets, council minutes, packets and public notices state, and labels each figure with the year and basis it was reported on.

Lindon's fiscal year runs from July 1 through June 30. The city's Finance Department page links its fiscal 2027 budget, its fee schedule and its fiscal 2025 annual comprehensive financial report. ^[9]

The audit

Gilbert & Stewart, a Provo accounting firm, dated its independent auditor's report on the fiscal 2025 statements March 6, 2026. The report says the financial statements "present fairly, in all material respects," the city's financial position, an unmodified opinion. ^[1]

Ron Stewart of Gilbert & Stewart presented the audit to the council on March 16, 2026. According to the approved minutes, he described the opinion as clean and reported no findings. Council members voted 4–0 to accept the audit and annual report; Councilmember Jake Hoyt was excused. ^[2]

Reserves

The General Fund, which pays for most day-to-day services, reported $14,769,537 in revenue and $13,122,065 in expenditures in fiscal 2025. Its fund balance fell by $569,116 during the year, which the report attributes mainly to transfers out, including $1,500,000 to the road fund. ^[1]

At June 30, 2025, the General Fund held $6,243,854 in fund balance: $1,300,000 nonspendable as an interfund loan receivable, $150,000 restricted for future development and $4,793,854 unassigned. The report says the unassigned amount equaled 36.5% of General Fund expenditures. ^[1]

All of the city's governmental funds together held $14,303,912, a decrease of $301,460 from the year before. The city's total net position, a measure that includes capital assets such as roads and utility systems, was $141,562,200. ^[1]

Debt

The report's management discussion lists $13,862,663 in bonds, including unamortized premiums, notes and leases outstanding at June 30, 2025, and $15,450,365 in total long-term liabilities including compensated absences. It states that Lindon does not have any general obligation bonds and that one bond is paid with sales tax revenue. ^[1]

The fiscal 2027 budget message says the city has an annual debt service obligation of approximately $1.6 million and that the budget includes the issuance of $4 million in bonds for a new culinary water well. ^[3]

On Sept. 21, 2026, the council adopted resolutions setting limits for new borrowing: up to $7,400,000 in water revenue bonds and up to $3,500,000 in new sewer revenue bonds plus up to $1,700,000 to refund existing sewer bonds, according to the city's public notices. These are maximums, not bonds sold. ^[5][6]

The 2026–27 budget

The approved fiscal 2027 budget states that Lindon's total budget for all funds is $41,986,570 and that it "does not include any tax rate increases." The General Fund is budgeted at $16,589,160 in revenue and the same amount in expenditures. ^[3]

The all-funds total includes transfers between funds. At the June 15 hearing, total expenditures were presented as $37,000,000 net of fund balance activity and transfers, according to the minutes. The council adopted the final budget, Ordinance 2026-11-O, 5–0. ^[4]

The budget message lists increases of 5% in culinary water base rates and 4% in water usage rates, among other utility changes. ^[3]

Redevelopment

The Lindon City Redevelopment Agency is budgeted separately within the city's budget. For fiscal 2027, the budget lists $335,000 in revenue for the Lindon Park community reinvestment area, with $333,700 for a "Tax Participation Agrmt," and $306,700 in revenue for the 700 North community development area, with a $250,000 transfer to debt service. It also lists a $325,000 General Fund transfer to redevelopment. ^[3]

The agency's Oct. 5, 2026 agenda listed Resolution 2026-8-RDA, described as an "intent to purchase real property within the 700 North CDA for economic development purposes." The council agenda the same night listed Resolution 2026-35-R, an intent to provide a financial backstop to the agency for that purchase. Minutes of that meeting had not been posted when this story was published. ^[8][7]

What comes next

The series' first stories cover the sewer treatment facility fee adopted in August, the transfers from utility funds to the General Fund, the water and sewer bond limits, and a roll-call record in the approved August minutes.