Auditing Riverdale: what we're examining and why

The Utah Ledger is reviewing the public financial records of Riverdale, Utah, a city in Weber County: its budgets, audited financial statements, redevelopment agency schedules, contract awards and the records of its planned move into the Weber Fire District. Each statement in this series links to the record it comes from. Riverdale's fiscal year runs July 1 to June 30.

The budget

The tentative budget the City Council received May 5 listed $20,092,397 in general fund revenues and the same amount in expenditures for fiscal 2026-27. Its comparative summary puts the total for all funds at $33,420,573, up from $30,780,280. ^[1]

The tentative general fund budget drew $2,456,710 from fund balance and included a $3,000,000 transfer to the capital projects fund. ^[1]

On June 16 the council adopted the fiscal 2026-27 budget, adding $1,500 for swim nights and $1,000 for fireworks. Council members Kent Anderson, Michael Richter, Anne Hansen and Bart Stevens voted yes; Alan Arnold voted no. The council approved those minutes July 21 with corrections that the July minutes do not itemize. ^[2][3]

The city's financial web page links the fiscal 2025-26 budget and does not link a fiscal 2026-27 budget document. ^[6]

Where the money comes from

The actual-results column of the city's budget worksheet shows fiscal 2025 general fund revenue of $15,672,013.80 and spending of $15,158,988.08, including a $3,054,010.22 transfer to other funds noted as the capital projects transfer. ^[1]

General sales tax supplied $8,915,269.65 of that revenue. A sales tax report in the June 16 council packet puts combined fiscal 2025 sales tax at $8,915,270. ^[1][4]

Current-year property tax brought in $1,746,421.23 in fiscal 2025. ^[1]

The fire department spent $2,416,741.86 in fiscal 2025. The tentative fiscal 2026-27 budget lists $2,783,302 for it. ^[1]

What the audited statements show

The city posts its audit reports on its financial web page, including the report for fiscal 2025. ^[6]

The audited statements for the year ended June 30, 2024 report a general fund balance of $7,906,957, of which $5,280,250 was unassigned. ^[5]

The same statements show $9,250,550 in the redevelopment agency fund, reported as restricted, and $14,307,196 in the capital projects fund. Total governmental fund balances were $31,464,703. These are balances in separate funds with separate purposes, not one pool of cash. ^[5]

The fiscal 2024 statements report no bonds, notes or leases payable. They list $3,291,820 in long-term liabilities, made up of compensated absences and net pension liabilities. ^[5]

A financial audit checks whether money was recorded and reported correctly. It is not a review of whether each project or program delivered what it promised.

Redevelopment

The redevelopment agency's fiscal 2026-27 budget worksheet, headed "Final" and presented to the agency board June 16, lists $700,000 of tax increment and $150,000 of fund balance for the West Bench area, supporting $600,000 of increment payments and $150,000 of improvements. The adoption resolution in the packet is unsigned and undated, and The Ledger has not seen a record of the board's vote. ^[7]

Draft minutes of the council's June 2 discussion of the StringTown master plan say: "Council consensus was reached to exclude city-backed bonding as a viable financing tool." No vote was taken. The council approved the June 2 minutes July 21 with corrections that are not itemized. ^[2][3]

What's next in this series

Separate stories in this series cover the fire-district transition, the council's July denial of an early release of subdivision security, the sale of city land near the Peacock Ridge area, a proposed property tax increase that does not appear in the June budget record, and the city's summer contract awards.