Auditing Washington City: what the city's own records say about its money

The Utah Ledger is reviewing Washington City's public financial records and reporting only what the documents state. Each story in this series links every figure to its source and names the years it covers. The main records are the city's audited financial statements for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2025, and its adopted budget for fiscal 2027, which runs from July 1, 2026, through June 30, 2027. ^[1][2]

This series concerns Washington City, the municipality. It does not cover Washington County or neighboring St. George. ^[1]

The budget

Resolution R2026-18, adopting the 2026-27 budgets for the city's funds, records a June 10, 2026 vote in which Council Members Troy Belliston, Kim Casperson, Craig Coats, Bret Henderson and Kurt Ivie all voted aye. ^[2]

The general fund, which pays for most day-to-day services, is budgeted at $38,801,532 in revenue and expense for fiscal 2027. The same document lists $35,939,392 for the fiscal 2026 budget. ^[2]

In the adopted budget, state-collected general sales tax is $11,379,549 and current-year property tax is $5,257,321. A new line, EMS Sales Tax, is budgeted at $1,300,000. ^[2]

The resolution's recital gives the budget hearing date as May 13, 2025, while its operative text says the budgets were adopted after a hearing on May 13, 2026. The posted copy's signature lines for the mayor and city recorder are blank. ^[2]

The audit

Squire & Company of St. George audited the fiscal 2025 statements. Its report, dated Jan. 22, 2026, gives an unmodified opinion, finding that the statements present fairly, in all material respects, the city's financial position at June 30, 2025. ^[1]

The city's total net position, a government-wide measure of assets minus liabilities, was $541,959,175, up $75,248,706 during the year. The report says $44,139,373 of that increase relates to capital contributions. ^[1]

The report's reporting-entity note lists the Coral Canyon Special Service District, the Municipal Building Authority of Washington City and the Washington City Foundation as blended component units, and says the city has no discretely presented component units. ^[1]

Reserves

The general fund ended fiscal 2025 with a fund balance of $15,367,331, up $3,707,293 from $11,660,038. Of the total, $6,321,905 was restricted for Class C roads and transit, $804,067 was assigned to a health premium rebate, $32,711 was nonspendable and $8,208,648 was unassigned. ^[1]

The general fund took in $34,901,205 in revenue and spent $32,145,105 that year. The increase in fund balance also reflects $3,000,000 in transfers in, $2,157,681 in transfers out and $108,874 from a subscription liability. ^[1]

The adopted budget's prior-year actual column identifies the $3,000,000 as transfers to the general fund of $2,000,000 from street impact fees and $1,000,000 from fire impact fees. ^[2][1]

Debt and redevelopment

The audit's debt table shows $29,336,402 outstanding at June 30, 2025, excluding net pension liability and compensated absences, down from $32,313,649 a year earlier. Revenue bonds of the utility funds were $13,719,000 of that total. A separate story in this series covers a difference between the table and the report's narrative. ^[1]

The portion of the audit The Ledger was able to review does not describe a city redevelopment agency or tax-increment project area. Later notes in the report were not reviewed for this story. ^[1]