Spanish Fork notice lists $3.2 million in fiscal 2027 transfers from utility funds
Spanish Fork's notice to utility customers listed six transfers from its power, water, sewer, solid waste and broadband funds for fiscal 2027, totaling $3,176,674. The broadband transfer rose from the prior year's notice, and the audited fiscal 2025 statements show a separate $6.2 million in indirect service charges to the general fund.
Continuing story: Auditing Spanish Fork
Spanish Fork's notice to utility customers for fiscal 2027 listed transfers of $1,310,000 from the power fund, $352,000 from the water fund, $152,000 from the sewer fund, $50,000 from the solid waste fund and $633,171 from the broadband fund to the general fund, plus $679,503 from the power fund to the debt service fund. [1]
Those six amounts total $3,176,674. The notice states each as a share of the paying fund's expenditures, from 0.9% for sewer to 5.7% for broadband. [1]
The City Council held the required hearing on June 2, 2026. No one commented. The minutes describe the transfers as moving utility fund profits to the general fund, which helps keep property taxes lower. [3]
Compared with the year before
The fiscal 2026 notice listed $1,335,000 from power, $353,000 from water, $155,025 from sewer, $50,000 from solid waste and $450,000 from broadband to the general fund, and the same $679,503 from power to the debt service fund. [2]
Between the two notices, the broadband transfer rose by $183,171 and its stated share of expenditures from 4.4% to 5.7%. The power fund's general fund transfer fell by $25,000. [1][2]
The council approved the fiscal 2027 budget on June 16, 2026. [4] The city's posted FY 2027 Original Budget book, dated June 2026, lists the same six transfers as the notice: $1,310,000 from power, $352,000 from water, $152,000 from sewer, $50,000 from solid waste and $633,171 from broadband to the general fund, and $679,503 from power to the debt service fund, for $3,176,674 in all. [6] These are the budget's planned lines, not records of money actually moved, and the Ledger has not checked whether a later revision changed them.
Other ways utility money moves
Transfers are separate from charges for services. In fiscal 2025, the general fund recorded $6,196,519 in indirect services as an other financing source, alongside $2,368,025 in transfers in, according to the audited statements. [5]
Loans between funds are a third mechanism. When the council approved the fiscal 2026 budget revision on June 16, 2026, staff said the golf course fund repaid about $1.2 million it owed the water fund early, and that the general fund would lend $500,000 to the airport fund. [4]
Notice amounts are proposed transfers for the coming year, not actual transfers. This story does not find any transfer improper. Transfers, service charges and loans are different mechanisms and are not added together here.
Sources
- Spanish Fork City Council · Notice to utility customers, FY2027 enterprise fund transfers
- Spanish Fork City Council · FY2026 enterprise fund transfers notice
- Spanish Fork City Council, RDA and LBA · June 2, 2026 adopted minutes
- Spanish Fork City Council · June 16, 2026 adopted minutes
- Spanish Fork City · FY2025 audited financial statements (Larson & Company, Dec. 9, 2025)
- Spanish Fork City · FY 2027 Original Budget book, June 2026 (PDF pages 49, 52, 55, 59 and 65: fund transfer lines)
Reporting by The Utah Ledger from the public records above. AI-assisted, checked against those records.