Hyrum's $13.86 million generator loan: what the city and UAMPS records show
Hyrum City borrowed $13.86 million through Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems in 2024 to build a local power generator, to be repaid from electric sales through 2044. The city's audit and UAMPS's own audit report the same principal, while describing the interest rates and the instrument differently.
Continuing story: Auditing Hyrum
Hyrum City signed a $13,860,000 loan agreement with Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems on July 9, 2024, "to finance the construction of a local power generator," according to the city's fiscal 2025 audited financial statements. [1]
The loan is to be repaid from power sales from the city's electric utility fund. It matures May 9, 2044, with monthly payments due on the 25th of each month, and its interest rate "is variable from 4.27% to 5.85%," the audit says. [1]
The balance and payments
The city paid down $459,000 of principal in fiscal 2025, leaving $13,401,000 outstanding on June 30, 2025, with $474,000 due within a year. [2]
The audit's repayment table lists $474,000 in principal and $623,288 in interest for fiscal 2026. Through 2044, it lists $13,401,000 in principal and $7,613,864 in interest, for $21,014,864 in scheduled payments. [1]
The city's fiscal 2026-27 budget report includes $491,000 in electric fund debt service principal and $607,172 in interest, matching the 2027 line of the audit's schedule. [6][1]
The audit's management discussion lists the same $13,401,000 balance as "lease payable," while the debt note and the liabilities table call it a loan payable. [3][1][2]
The UAMPS side
UAMPS says in its audited statements for the year ended March 31, 2025 that the Hyrum City Generation Project consists of three Caterpillar G3520 natural gas generators, placed in service in May 2024. [5]
On July 11, 2024, UAMPS issued Member Services Project Revenue Bonds for the Hyrum City Generation Project, totaling $13.9 million at interest rates of 3.30% to 5.85%. Its debt table shows $13,860,000 outstanding on March 31, 2025, with $459,000 due within one year. [5]
Hyrum's audit describes UAMPS as a joint agency and political subdivision of the state, a separate legal entity that is not a component unit of the city. [4]
Other city debt
The city also owed $2,222,517 on a USDA loan on June 30, 2025. Its management discussion says the city has no general obligation debt. [2][3]
Hyrum's loan and UAMPS's bonds describe one financing seen from two sides; they are not two separate debts to add together. The $21,014,864 total is a schedule of principal and interest at the rates shown, not a guaranteed lifetime cost, because the rate is variable. UAMPS's fiscal year ends March 31, and the city's ends June 30.
Sources
- Hyrum City · Fiscal 2025 audited financial statements (HBME, LLC), note 7, UAMPS loan and repayment schedule
- Hyrum City · Fiscal 2025 audited financial statements (HBME, LLC), note 7, long-term liabilities
- Hyrum City · Fiscal 2025 audited financial statements (HBME, LLC), management's discussion, long-term debt
- Hyrum City · Fiscal 2025 audited financial statements (HBME, LLC), note 11, investments in power projects
- Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems · Financial report for the years ended March 31, 2025 and 2024
- Hyrum City · Fiscal 2026-27 budget worksheet (state budget report, Aug. 5, 2026), electric department, pp. 54-55
Reporting by The Utah Ledger from the public records above. AI-assisted, checked against those records.