Auditing Sandy: what public records show about the city's finances

The Utah Ledger is reviewing Sandy City's public financial records the way it reviewed American Fork's. Every sentence in the series is tied to a linked record: the city's audited financial report, the Salt Lake County Auditor, Sandy City Council agendas and minutes, and public notices. The series states what the records say and does not draw conclusions from them. Where a finding is older, the headline names its years.

What the records show

Sandy's audited annual financial report for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2024 (FY2024) carries an unmodified opinion from Eide Bailly LLP, dated December 19, 2024. ^[1]

The report puts the general fund's ending fund balance at $9,493,192 and total long-term obligations at $118,707,701. ^[1]

For tax year 2025, the Salt Lake County Auditor's report lists six Sandy community reinvestment (redevelopment) project areas with $6,836,539 in current-year entitled tax increment. ^[2]

Sandy City Council minutes record that the council voted 5 to 1, with 1 abstention, on July 7, 2026 to override the mayor's veto of a $93,100 water capital outlay in the FY2026-27 budget. ^[3]

In 2026 the council also called a special bond election on a general obligation bond of not more than $30,000,000 for the former Crescent View Middle School property. ^[4]

What the series covers

Stories in the series cover the FY2024 audit and fund balance, long-term debt, redevelopment tax increment, the 2026 bond election, budget votes and vetoes in 2020, 2022 and 2026, and council-minute records of the 2020 fluoride overfeed incident.

What the Ledger could not retrieve

Sandy's FY2025 annual financial report and the auditor's compliance report are now linked from the series. The Ledger could not retrieve the city's adopted budget documents or the report's notes, including the issue-by-issue debt schedule. Findings that depend on them are not included.