Auditing Helper: what the city's latest audit shows

The Ledger is starting an "Auditing Helper" series. It follows the public records behind the Carbon County city's spending, debt and audits. This first story sets out the baseline in Helper's most recent audited financial statements, for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2025. ^[1]

The independent auditor, Aycock, Miles & Associates of Roosevelt, issued its report on Aug. 4, 2026. It said the statements present fairly, in all material respects, the city's financial position. The single audit summary calls this an unqualified opinion. ^[1][4]

The general fund

The general fund pays for most city services, including police, fire, roads and parks. In fiscal 2025 it took in $1,869,479 and spent $2,021,113. Police and courts was the largest category of spending at $769,781. ^[2]

The fund ended the year with $559,429, down from $711,063. Of the ending balance, $554,429 was unassigned and $5,000 was restricted for debt service. ^[2][8]

The final budget had counted on a $330,000 transfer into the fund. No transfer was made. A separate story in this series covers it. ^[2]

Utilities and debt

Helper runs four utility funds: water, sewer, electric and garbage. Together they reported $2,910,110 in charges for services and $1,219,351 in capital grants in fiscal 2025, all of the capital grants in the water fund. ^[6]

The city reported $15,191,796 in long-term debt at June 30, 2025, up $574,000 from a year earlier. That total is made up of $1,019,000 in governmental revenue bonds, a $178,000 note and $13,994,796 in revenue debt of the business-type activities. ^[3]

The notes say all business-type loans are secured by the revenues of the business-type activities. The water and sewer funds held $1,322,677 in restricted cash for debt service reserves. ^[9]

The city's redevelopment agency reported $21,273 in restricted cash for community reinvestment. ^[9]

Compliance

The auditor found that Helper complied in all material respects with the state compliance requirements it tested. It reported one finding, 2025-1: the Municipal Building Authority, sewer and garbage funds exceeded their annual budgets. A separate story covers that finding. ^[5]

Federal spending was $1,223,636, of which $1,164,449 was pandemic recovery money passed through the Utah Division of Drinking Water. The auditor reported no federal findings. ^[7][4]

The fiscal 2027 budget

Helper's council adopted its fiscal 2026-27 budget at its June 4, 2026 meeting, according to the city's minutes. Council Member Palacios moved to approve Resolution 2026-08, Council Member Damron seconded, and Council Members Olson, Lee, Damron, Palacios and Chavez voted yes on the roll call. The minutes show the vote after a public hearing that closed at 7:11 p.m. The mayor and recorder signed the minutes' certification, with an approval date of June 18, 2026. ^[10]

The minutes record the vote but do not list budget figures. The Ledger has not seen a final adopted schedule: the city's budget folder, as viewed Oct. 24, showed only a tentative fiscal 2026-27 budget file. That is what the Ledger saw, not proof that no final document exists, and the series does not use the tentative figures. ^[10]