Garland's fiscal 2025 audit: fees not on the fee schedule and a late fraud risk assessment

Garland's fiscal 2025 audit lists seven state-compliance findings. Four concern how the city sets and records fees and how it handles a required fraud risk review. ^[1]

Fees

Finding 2025-04 says Utah law allows cities to charge only fees on a council-approved schedule. "The City is charging a connection fee for water, initialization fee for building permits, and a business license fire inspection fee, and they are not found on the fee schedule," the auditors wrote. ^[1]

Finding 2025-07 says impact fees on building permits were split in the city's accounting software into a connection fee and an impact fee, and "impact fees and connection fees were not properly classified." It cites Utah Code 11-36a-601. ^[1]

The city's responses say it adopted "a comprehensive fee schedule" in September 2025, and a fines and fees schedule that lists impact and connection fees. ^[1]

City use of water and sewer

Finding 2025-05 says "the City is not recording usage for water and sewer fees for many of the City facilities and parks." Under accounting standards, the auditors wrote, the enterprise funds should bill other funds at the same rates other customers pay. ^[1]

The city responded that starting in fiscal 2025-26 it began scheduled billing for the library and the fire department and would bill for all services the enterprise funds provide. ^[1]

Fraud risk assessment

Finding 2025-01 says the State Auditor's office requires the fraud risk assessment to be presented at a mayor and council meeting before the end of the fiscal year. As of June 30, 2025, it had not been completed and presented, and it had not been posted on the State Auditor's website. ^[1]

The auditors also wrote that the assessment said the city had an audit committee, "but the City does not actually have this committee." ^[1]

The city responded that from 2026 on, the assessment will be presented at the first council meeting in June, and that the audit committee reference will be removed until a committee is formally set up. ^[1]