Vineyard failed to report ‘substantial' transactions, state auditor finds

Yahoo

22-06-2025

VINEYARD — The State Auditor's Office released a report Thursday detailing Vineyard's failure to report 'substantial' transactions, totaling more than $35 million in the last four years.
'This was my most requested audit across the state, and that's saying something. I get a lot of requests for different reviews, but it was a consistent request for Vineyard,' State Auditor Tina Cannon told KSL.com.
The auditor's office completed a limited review of financial transactions and contractual agreements related to Vineyard's Redevelopment Agency from January 2018 to March 2025. The Redevelopment Agency is a separate legal entity from the city, but the City Council runs the agency board, and the agency reports financial activities as part of the city.
The audit was limited in scope to specific concerns that had been raised on financial transaction reporting and disclosures, and governance of the Redevelopment Agency.
'The problems that are happening in Vineyard are a real lack of public trust over what is going on. The solution to a lack of public trust is more transparency, not less,' Cannon said. 'If you have nothing to hide, hide nothing.'
Vineyard Mayor Julie Fullmer said she appreciates the auditor's feedback and takes 'all concerns raised seriously and remains committed to addressing areas where processes or communications can be strengthened.'
She told KSL.com the City Council will be formalizing new city policies using the guidance from the auditor's office in the next council meeting on Wednesday, June 25.
State code requires city entities to post financial transactions of public funds on the Transparent Utah website so it is publicly available for inspection. The auditor's office compared the city's general ledger from 2018 on and found transactions from each period had not been included on Transparent Utah but were in the city's accounting system.
'Transactions omitted include substantial payments to developers from the (Redevelopment Agency). This could raise public suspicions that those payments were intentionally hidden,' the audit report states.
'This is the first review of 'OK, did you report everything that you did?' And the answer was 'no,'' Cannon said.
After the auditor's office requested in May that the city replace the transparency information uploaded for all the years in question, the city complied, and the new transaction records matched the general ledger.
According to numbers given to KSL.com from the State Auditor's Office, there was approximately a $17.5 million difference in 2022 from what the city initially reported to Transparent Utah compared to the updated numbers that matched the ledger. Another $7.3 million, $8.1 million and $2.4 million difference was reported for 2023, 2024 and 2025 respectively.
Fullmer said the discrepancy came from the city uploading quarterly revenue-and-expense reports that were not replaced with full-year files after the end-of-year deadline.
'Prior to our discussions with the State Auditor's Office, we were unaware that quarterly transparency reports could or should be deleted and replaced with a comprehensive annual report once the financial statements were finalized. While this resulted in incomplete reporting, all required reports were submitted on time and in good faith by city staff,' the city's response in the report says.
The audit report states incomplete information was being submitted by Vineyard even though the 'criterion is clearly established in both Utah statute and administrative code.' The auditor recommends the city adapt a policy of replacing information uploaded to the public finance website if additional transactions occur after the file was submitted.
Since redevelopment agencies use tax increment financing, the vast majority of the tax funds are originally imposed for educational purposes, Cannon said.
'So you are moving money away from education for the children of Vineyard and then you are using it on other items,' Cannon said. 'When you won't tell people what you did, it leads to mistrust that you did something you shouldn't have done.'
According to the audit's second finding, Vineyard's taxing entity committee for the Redevelopment Agency has not met since 2011.
The city cited Utah Code, saying the committee required a 'a series of one-time actions' that were accomplished in 2011, fulfilling the committee's 'primary purpose.' Since then, the city has submitted annual reports to taxing entities, replacing the need to meet annually, Fullmer said.
'Failure to ensure all taxing entities actively participate creates public concerns about the legality of Vineyard's Redevelopment Agency actions. In addition, citizens are not able to obtain information regarding the use of funds from the government entity that levied the tax,' the audit report states.
Councilman Jacob Holdaway said not holding the meetings is 'so wrong' and 'goes behind their backs.' While the Redevelopment Agency started with a 'noble' purpose of using property taxes to clean up the steel mill site, the agency has been 'circumventing' the taxing entities, effectively eliminating oversight on the funds, he alleges.
'You can't just not have oversight — it's like a city not being responsive to the state,' he said. 'I feel horrible. I feel like we have stolen from Alpine School District taxpayers, but it's legal.'
Holdaway claims the city went even further to cement the lack of oversight by lobbying in 2020 for SB158, which exempts the Vineyard agency from having to obtain approval from taxing entities on extending funds. He says spending has 'ballooned' since that bill was passed, using money meant for schools on 'questionable government projects.'
'Our city government deliberately chose secrecy over accountability,' he said. 'We fix it by being honest ... by standing up together for the kind of government that treats taxpayer money with the respect it deserves.'
Fullmer said even though the committee has not met, the city's annual reports to the taxing entities notify the committee of what funds have been used each year, and those reports are publicly available.
'The city has published its reports timely, and neither the city or the (redevelopment agency) have received any concerns from taxing entities about the level of informational engagement,' the city said in the audit report.
The report's third finding determined the city failed to disclose footnote information on financial statements regarding tax abatements. The city responded saying it would update its policy.
In a cover letter sent to the auditor's office but not included in the report, Fullmer claims several of the issues in the audit arose from just one member of the council and that the member received information from the audit's management letter prior to it being formally distributed to the City Council.
Cannon said no documents were leaked, as that is a 'fireable offense.'
'It's not rocket science to determine who had the information. If the person that expressed the concerns knows we are doing a review, he knows what we're going to find and would be privy to that information. It's not hard to determine he knew, but it didn't come from our office,' Cannon said.
While not named in the mayor's letter, Holdaway has been a staunch opponent of Fullmer since taking office in 2023. He has frequently pushed back on council issues regarding financials and transparency, gotten in heated discussions in City Council meetings, and is leading a referendum on a bond vote. He told KSL.com he did go to the State Auditor's Office with a request for an audit.
'My entire board and mayor has been telling me that I'm crazy and that I'm a liar,' Holdaway said. 'The findings yesterday, it's like, I couldn't believe that you would even do this.'
The findings highlighted 'technical compliance items and transparency opportunities' and provides the city a 'constructive opportunity to enhance already-strong systems of fiscal stewardship and public engagement,' the mayor said.
'Vineyard city works diligently to ensure transparency, accountability, and integrity in every aspect of our financial operations,' Fullmer said.
'We are pleased that the state auditor's review found no evidence of misuse or mismanagement of public funds. We agree with the helpful auditor's recommendations, have already implemented them, and view them as a valuable opportunity to further strengthen our systems of transparency and public engagement,' the mayor said.
Cannon, however, said Fullmer praising that no misuses of taxpayer funds were found is 'at best, premature, and at worst, it's misleading.'
'That's like celebrating that we did not find what we were not looking for. This was a very limited audit to determine what was spent and was it reported correctly. Our office has the purview to determine if it was legally spent ... Whether or not it was ethically spent is up for the public to decide,' Cannon said.
Cannon said she could not confirm if there will be additional audits into Vineyard.