Auditing Perry: what the city's audit, budget and meeting records show

Perry, a Box Elder County city, publishes its audited financial reports, budgets and council records online. This series reports what those records show, one finding at a time.

The most recent audited financial report Perry posts online covers the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024. Chuck Palmer & Associates of Ogden signed it on Jan. 17, 2025. ^[1]

Net position and fund balance

The fiscal 2024 report shows total net position of $35,345,340: $20,279,756 in governmental activities and $15,065,584 in business-type activities such as utilities. ^[1]

The General Fund recorded $7,423,541 in revenues and $5,348,465 in expenditures that year. Its fund balance at June 30, 2024 was $3,610,074, of which $2,287,050 was unassigned. The redevelopment agency fund held $259,782. ^[1]

Debt

At June 30, 2024, the city owed $2,687,000 on its Series 2022 sales tax revenue bonds, issued for $3,020,000 at 2.95% to buy the Lodge for a new city hall and maturing May 1, 2037. ^[1]

It owed $5,602,533 on its Series 2020 sewer revenue bond, originally $7,345,533 at 2.00%, which refinanced a 2008 bond and matures May 1, 2035. That balance fell by $450,000 during the year. ^[1]

The audit opinion

For fiscal 2024, the auditor gave unmodified opinions on the governmental activities, business-type activities and each major fund. It did not express an opinion on the discretely presented component units, the Box Elder County and Perry City flood control entities, because their statements "have not been audited nor were they required to be audited." ^[1]

For fiscal 2025, the council's Feb. 12, 2026 minutes record that the auditor "issued an unqualified opinion (the highest opinion possible) on the financial statements" and describe two findings, covered in a separate story. ^[2]

The same minutes record the mayor's State of the City report: "The city's net position increased by 5.8% to $37,000,000" and "long-term debt decreased by 7.7%." These are the minutes' summaries, not figures from the audit report itself. ^[2]

The budget

Perry's fiscal 2025–26 budget report, marked amended and corrected, lists $6,698,129 in General Fund revenues and expenditures. It budgets $1,125,743 in current property taxes and $1,434,472 in sales and use taxes. The same report lists prior-year General Fund revenues of $7,629,578. ^[3]

The budget appropriates $1,900,000 for construction of the 1200 West Central Trail. ^[3]

For fiscal 2026–27, the council's June 25, 2026 agenda listed a final budget resolution and a utility rate ordinance, and an Oct. 22, 2026 hearing notice lists Resolution 2026-17, a fiscal 2026–27 budget amendment. ^[5][6]