State Auditor found Plain City event payments went through personal payment apps

The Utah State Auditor's office confirmed in April 2025 that Plain City had allowed certain employees or volunteers to collect city concession payments and event fees through their own personal payment-app accounts. ^[1]

The office's letter, report No. PLAI25SP dated April 10, 2025, followed a hotline complaint alleging potential commingling of public and private funds through apps such as Venmo and Cash App. Auditors made inquiries and reviewed documents for approximately June 2024 to August 2024 and "confirmed the substance of the complaint." ^[1]

The two findings

The first finding said the use of private accounts to collect public payments commingled public and private funds in violation of Utah Code 10-6-146, which requires the city to deposit city funds only to city-authorized and controlled accounts. It said this occurred because the city had not established a controlled method for receiving payments for certain city functions. ^[1]

The second finding said the city did not require detailed receipt records and supporting documentation to be turned in with proceeds collected through personal apps at city-sponsored events. "Without these records, the City had no way to determine whether all proceeds collected were in fact remitted to the City for deposit," the letter said. ^[1]

The auditor recommended that the city stop using personal accounts or create official city payment-app accounts, and adopt a cash-receipting process that creates a reliable record of all receipts. ^[1]

What the review found about losses

During the inquiry, the city obtained the detailed personal app records for the period and compared the amounts collected with the amounts remitted for deposit. The city concluded the amount remitted was appropriate. "After review, we concurred the risk is low that any significant loss occurred related to these events," the letter said. ^[1]

The letter added that the use of personal apps and the lack of internal controls "created a significant risk of loss for the City." It said its procedures were limited to matters related to the complaint. ^[1]

The city's response

In a response dated March 31, 2025, Mayor Jon Beesley wrote that a Venmo account had been created in the city's name and was being used instead of a city employee's account. He wrote that the account is controlled by the city treasurer, that no other employees or volunteers have access, and that it is reconciled monthly in the city's accounting software by someone other than the treasurer. ^[1]

The response said transaction reports are also given to the city recorder, and that a new general fund ledger account, 10-1011, was created for the month-end Venmo balance. ^[1]

For cash, the response said the city "will use a cash box that will be reconciled to the cash deposits made twice a week," with a register recording each concession sale. ^[1]

Later records

The city's fraud risk assessment for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2026, completed June 10, 2026, reports 335 of 395 possible points. The form's scale places 316 to 355 points in its "Low" risk level and more than 355 in "Very Low." The city answered yes to having adopted written policies on cash receipting and deposits, and did not mark yes for a fraud hotline, a formal internal audit function or a formal audit committee. ^[2]

The fiscal 2025 audit's state compliance report, dated Dec. 23, 2025, lists the fraud risk assessment among the requirements tested and says the city complied in all material respects with those requirements. The audit's period ended June 30, 2025. ^[3]