Auditing Willard
The Ledger's review of Willard's budgets, audits, debt and redevelopment money.
The full audit section: stories by subject, key figures and records →
Background
Auditing Willard: A small city's budget, its sewer debt and its latest audit
Willard's fiscal 2025 audit reports $2.18 million in General Fund revenue, a $791,817 General Fund balance and $8.63 million in sewer revenue bonds, the city's only bonded debt. The council adopted the fiscal 2026-27 budget on June 25, 2026.
Read the explainer →Latest update · October 17, 2026
Willard adopts fiscal 2027 budget; mayor and police chief discuss police budget growth
Willard's council adopted its fiscal 2026-27 budget 4-0 on June 25, 2026, and kept the property tax rate unchanged. Mayor Travis Mote said police budget increases had outpaced population growth and inflation; the police chief said salaries drove them.
Timeline
- Willard adopts fiscal 2027 budget; mayor and police chief discuss police budget growth
- Willard's fiscal 2025 audit reports $228,309 left on a 2019 developer impact fee advance
- Willard's sewer bonds: $8.63 million outstanding, with principal scheduled through 2045
- Willard council approves the Perry/Willard sewer plant budget; Willard's estimated share is about $299,000
Latest updates
- Politics
Willard adopts fiscal 2027 budget; mayor and police chief discuss police budget growth
Willard's council adopted its fiscal 2026-27 budget 4-0 on June 25, 2026, and kept the property tax rate unchanged. Mayor Travis Mote said police budget increases had outpaced population growth and inflation; the police chief said salaries drove them.
- Politics
Willard's fiscal 2025 audit reports $228,309 left on a 2019 developer impact fee advance
Developers advanced Willard $500,000 of impact fees in fiscal 2019 for utility infrastructure, to be repaid as lot owners pay their own fees. The fiscal 2025 audit reports $228,309 still owed. The water and sewer funds collected $650,115 in impact fees that year.
- Politics
Willard's sewer bonds: $8.63 million outstanding, with principal scheduled through 2045
Willard refinanced its 2008 sewer bonds in 2015 to defer principal because growth came in below expectations, the audit says. $8.63 million remained on June 30, 2025, and the last scheduled payments run through 2045.
- Politics
Willard council approves the Perry/Willard sewer plant budget; Willard's estimated share is about $299,000
Willard's council approved the joint wastewater treatment plant budget 4-0 on June 25, 2026. The minutes record that the circulated document showed a larger variance than the amendment described to the joint sewer board, and that a budget amendment might follow. Willard's estimated contribution was about $299,000 for fiscal 2026-27.