What the State Auditor's 2025 review of Vineyard and its redevelopment agency found

The Utah Office of the State Auditor's limited review of Vineyard City and the Vineyard Redevelopment Agency, Report 25-02, covered financial transactions and contracts from Jan. 1, 2018 through March 2025. It reported three findings with recommendations and two observations. The auditor wrote that its procedures were limited in scope to specific concerns. ^[1]

The office wrote that it had "received many requests from various members of the community" for a review, and encouraged city staff and officials "to set a tone of civility and transparency" in responding to inquiries. ^[1]

Transparent Utah uploads

The auditor compared the city's general ledger for 2018 through 2024 with what the city had submitted to the state's Transparent Utah website and found transactions in each period that were in the ledger but not in the uploads. Examples included payables entered after a quarter's file was already uploaded and, in 2024, interest accrued after the file was submitted. ^[1]

The omitted transactions included "substantial payments to developers from the RDA," which the auditor said could raise public suspicion that the payments were intentionally hidden. The city replaced its data for 2018 through 2024, and the auditor wrote that it reviewed the replacement and confirmed it matches the city's accounting records. ^[1]

In its June 18, 2025 response, the city said its reports had been submitted on time and in good faith, and that before talking with the auditor it had been unaware that quarterly files should be replaced once the year's statements were final. It asked that the finding be changed to an observation. The auditor declined, writing that the requirement to provide complete information is "clearly established" in statute and administrative code. ^[2][3]

The taxing entity committee

The redevelopment agency held a public hearing on Oct. 25, 2023 and extended the life of its project area, according to the review. The last project area budget approved by the agency's taxing entity committee, which represents the governments whose taxes fund the agency, was adopted Dec. 20, 2010, and the committee had not reconvened since. Resolution 2009-01 says the committee "shall meet at least annually" while the agency receives tax increment. ^[1]

The review also notes that the project area qualifies as an inactive industrial site under a 2020 state law, Senate Bill 158, which lets it take certain actions, such as extending tax-increment collection, without the committee's approval. The auditor recommended annual committee meetings. ^[1]

The city responded that a 2011 law requiring annual reports had replaced the need for annual informational meetings, and that it files those reports each Nov. 1. The auditor answered that the city should have amended the resolution if it no longer intended to meet, and that until it does, "the annual meeting requirement remains in full effect." ^[2][3]

Tax-abatement disclosures and other observations

The third finding said Vineyard had not fully disclosed property tax abatements in its financial statements as required by accounting standard GASB 77. The city said it had not entered into tax abatement agreements but would add the disclosures. The auditor wrote that the RDA's contracts, under which outside entities agreed to actions such as industrial site cleanup and building housing, "clearly demonstrate" such agreements. ^[1][2][3]

The auditor also observed that a city purchasing ordinance allows spending up to $125,000 without council approval, a threshold it called "very high and inadvisable for an entity of this size," though not in conflict with state code. The city said its thresholds were consistent with similarly sized cities in the county. ^[1][2]

A second observation noted that Alpine School District has historically contributed most of the agency's tax increment and recommended the city consult legal counsel on the effects of the district's dissolution. The city said it agreed and was monitoring the reorganization. ^[1][2]

Since the review

Vineyard's fiscal 2025 financial statements, dated Dec. 10, 2025, include a new tax-abatement note covering the city and its redevelopment agency. ^[4]