It is likely the result of our natural UTAH heritage - to be thrifty and save for a rainy day. However, Utah law is quite specific about the sizes of fund balances. Actually, only the general fund has specific limits. Therefore, the other funds have no limitations. Sometimes it's called reserves, or net worth.
Businesses call it retained earnings.
A fund for this purpose is either a general fund, capital projects fund, special revenue fund, debt service fund, or proprietary fund. That's an accounting definition, but that's what we are dealing with. For small districts the fund balance is usually equal to the amount of money in the checking account and savings. That means our liabilities must be less than our assets. Because, if our liabilities are greater than our assets, we are technically and legally bankrupt and that's a definite no-no in local governments.