Mapleton's $6 million internal fiber loan: approved terms and differing repayment dates
Mapleton lent its fiber network $6 million from city capital funds. Council minutes put repayment at July 1, 2028, while the fiscal 2027 budget overview says repayment begins in fiscal 2028, a year earlier under the city's July-to-June calendar.
Continuing story: Auditing Mapleton
Mapleton has lent its fiber network $6 million from city capital funds, and two city records give different starting points for paying it back. [1][2]
At the Jan. 15, 2025 council meeting, Fiber Director Phil Holmes said the city was seeking an additional $2 million, bringing the total to $6 million. According to the minutes, he said the 20-year loan at 3.75% interest would be an internal loan from the general fund, not a new bond or bank loan, "with repayment starting July 1, 2028." [1]
Councilmember Leslie Jones moved to approve a resolution "authorizing a loan of $2,000,000 from the Capital Project fund 45 (CIP Fund Reserve)" "to the Capital Project fund 46 (Mapleton City Network)." The motion passed 5-0 as Resolution 2025-08. The term, rate and repayment date appear in the staff discussion recorded in the minutes, not in the motion text. [1]
The budget's description
The fiscal 2027 budget overview says that in 2023 "the city council approved a $6,000,000 loan from the General Fund to complete the Mapleton City Network construction." In its list of debt payments, it says of the "2022 General Fund Loan": "Repayment will begin in Fiscal Year 2028." [2]
The budget labels each fiscal year as running July 1 to June 30; fiscal 2027 is July 1, 2026 to June 30, 2027. On that calendar, fiscal 2028 runs from July 1, 2027 to June 30, 2028, and July 1, 2028 is the first day of fiscal 2029. [5][2]
The detailed fiscal 2027 fiber schedule includes bond payments but no line for repaying the internal loan. [5]
How the audit records it
The fiscal 2025 audit's governmental funds balance sheet lists a $6,000,000 interfund note receivable in the City Projects capital fund and a $6,000,000 interfund note payable in the Community Network capital fund at June 30, 2025. [3]
The audit's statement of fund activity for the same year also lists a $6,000,000 transfer out of City Projects and a $6,000,000 transfer into Community Network, and the audit's transfer note reports the same amount. [4][6]
Management's discussion in the audit says the City Projects fund balance fell by $3,347,918 during fiscal 2025, primarily because of the interfund note receivable with the Community Network fund. [7]
The network fund's balance
The Community Network fund began fiscal 2025 with a negative fund balance of $1,773,897 and ended it with a positive balance of $1,057,085. [4]
During the year it reported $1,307,380 in revenue, $3,376,465 in expenditures, the $6,000,000 transfer in and $1,099,933 transferred out to the debt service fund for bond payments. [4]
Separately from the internal loan, the network's sales tax revenue bonds had $9,045,000 outstanding on the 2021 series and $10,945,000 on the 2023 series at June 30, 2025. [8]
The internal loan moves money between city funds; it is not outside borrowing. The audit's $6 million note and $6 million transfer describe the same internal financing and should not be added together. No record reviewed shows a missed payment; the first repayment has not come due under either date. The Ledger has not obtained the signed loan document or a repayment schedule.
Sources
- Mapleton City Council · Jan. 15, 2025 approved minutes
- Mapleton City · Final FY2027 budget, budget overview, debt servicing
- Mapleton City · FY2025 audited financial statements, governmental funds balance sheet
- Mapleton City · FY2025 audited financial statements, governmental funds revenues, expenditures and changes in fund balances
- Mapleton City · Final FY2027 budget, Mapleton Fiber fund
- Mapleton City · FY2025 audited financial statements, operating transfer reconciliation
- Mapleton City · FY2025 audited financial statements, management's discussion and analysis
- Mapleton City · FY2025 audited financial statements, long-term debt
Reporting by The Utah Ledger from the public records above. AI-assisted, checked against those records.