Auditing Providence: What the city's audit and budget show

Auditing Providence is a series from The Utah Ledger that follows public money in Providence, Utah, a Cache County city, using the city's own audits, budgets and meeting records.

The most recent audit covers the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2025. Aycock, Miles & Associates dated its report Dec. 12, 2025, and said the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the city's financial position. ^[1]

Reserves and the general budget

In fiscal 2025, the General Fund took in $6,440,529 and spent $4,217,002. It transferred $2,330,000 to the Capital Projects Fund. ^[1]

The General Fund ended the year with $3,543,580. Of that, $1,821,845 was unassigned and $1,721,735 was restricted, mostly for impact fees and cemetery perpetual care. ^[1]

The Capital Projects Fund ended with $6,314,148, bringing total governmental fund balances to $9,857,728. ^[1]

On June 17, 2026, the council passed Ordinance 09-2026 adopting the fiscal 2027 budgets for all funds. Council members Campbell, Kunz, Sealy and Speth voted yes, and Kirk was marked absent. The budget document filed with the ordinance lists $6,437,400 in General Fund revenue and the same amount in expenses for fiscal 2027. ^[2]

Utilities and debt

Providence runs five utility funds: culinary water, waste water, storm water, solid waste and a fiber network. Together they reported $5,056,659 in operating revenue in fiscal 2025. ^[1]

The audit lists no long-term debt for the city's governmental activities. Its utility funds owed $9,283,000 in revenue bonds at June 30, 2025: $1,773,000 on a 2020 water revenue bond and $7,510,000 on 2021 franchise and sales tax revenue bonds carried by the fiber fund. ^[1]

The audit says the city has no component units. ^[1]

What the auditors tested

In their report on internal control and compliance, the auditors said they did not identify any material weaknesses, and their tests disclosed no instances of noncompliance required to be reported. They did not express an opinion on the effectiveness of internal control. ^[1]

In a separate report under the State Compliance Audit Guide, the auditors said Providence complied in all material respects with the state requirements tested. Those areas included budgetary compliance, fund balance, justice court, restricted taxes, fraud risk assessment, governmental fees and the Open and Public Meetings Act. ^[1]

What comes next

On Nov. 3, 2026, Providence voters will see a nonbinding question about a possible property tax to fund a city library. ^[3]

The council's Oct. 21, 2026 agenda includes a public hearing on a fiscal 2027 budget adjustment for the possible purchase of parcel 02-096-0064, followed by an item on the purchase itself. Neither the agenda nor the hearing notice states a price, a fund or a seller. ^[4][5]