Financial statements for the Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency’s (UTOPIA)...
Financial statements for the Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency’s (UTOPIA) and the Utah Infrastructure Agency’s (UIA) 2012 fiscal year show a loss, but the agency argues the numbers show progress. The municipal telecom network, comprising several cities, has undergone refinancing…
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and faces considerable and controversial debt (CD Aug 10 p7). Independent auditors Keddington & Christensen performed the audits, which tracked UTOPIA and UIA finances through June 30, 2012. UTOPIA’s operating budget was lower than expected and operating revenue higher, the auditors said. UTOPIA’s spokesman noted in a Wednesday blog post (http://xrl.us/bobzvr) that UIA’s net loss was $8,292, which was better than the budgeted amount by $3.3 million. Nine of UTOPIA’s member cities created UIA in 2010, and its total operating revenue was $2.35 million and expenses $1.67 million, according to its audit (http://xrl.us/bobzvx). “We certainly see this as progress, and as encouraging signs that our current business model is beginning to yield definitive results,” the spokesman said. “For the fiscal year, UIA added 2,030 residential subscribers and 164 business subscribers, and made its first bond payment a month early, and with 100% subscriber revenue. UIA is on track to make the next payment as well.” He pointed out that the debt commitment runs for 30 years. “As of June 30, 2012, UTOPIA’s outstanding debt amounted to $214.8 million,” the report said (http://xrl.us/bobztk). “The majority of this debt (revenue bonds payable) is secured by the 11 pledging members’ [cities, 11 of the 16 original UTOPIA communities] sales tax pledges.” UIA’s outstanding debt amounts to another $42.2 million, that audit showed. The UTOPIA network was running at an operating loss of $7.23 million as of June, its audit showed, with operating revenues at $5.19 million and expenses at $12.42 million. Federal stimulus money and financing from the bonds is largely what closed this gap. “We are not attempting to hide the UTOPIA situation,” the spokesman added, referring to the debt.