OSA Weekly Update - 8/11/2023

1. Message from Auditor Blaha

2. Meeting: Fire Relief Association Working Group

3. Avoiding Pitfall: County Commissioner Compensation

4. Upcoming Deadlines

5. Job Openings

1. Message from Auditor Blaha

How to find and keep local financial staff is keeping a lot of you up at night. I just finished a tour visiting county and city financial officers in southwest Minnesota to hear how the public finance professionals shortage is affecting them. Those conversations confirmed the need to take action. The OSA plans to put forward legislation next year to take some pressure off the industry. Do you have ideas to take things off local finance staff’s plates, while not adding undue risk? Send them to us: outreach@osa.state.mn.us.

2. Meeting: Fire Relief Association Working Group

The State Auditor’s Fire Relief Association Working Group will meet on August 16, from 2:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

The meeting will be held in an in-person/virtual hybrid format and will be live-streamed for those who are interested in watching. The live-stream link, and the meeting agendas and materials, will be available on the Working Group page of the OSA website.

3. Avoiding Pitfall: County Commissioner Compensation

Like most governing bodies, county boards set their own level of compensation. Unlike other governing bodies, increases in salary and per diem rates for county commissioners in counties other than Hennepin and Ramsey cannot take effect until January 1 of the year following the county board’s action.

For example, any increase in compensation for 2024 must be adopted in a resolution by the county board before the end of 2023. The resolution must state the new salary on an annual basis. Decreases in salary or per diem, however, may take effect at any time. See Minn. Stat. § 375.055.

For Hennepin County, see Minn. Stat. § 383B.021. For Ramsey County, see Ramsey County Home Rule Charter, § 2.01 (D).

The full Avoiding Pitfall is available on the OSA website.

4. Upcoming Deadlines

TIF: Annual Disclosure

TIF Authorities are required to publish an annual statement containing specific information about each TIF district. The statement must be published in a newspaper of general circulation in the municipality no later than August 15, 2023. The information to be published can be found on the "ADS" Tab of the TIF Annual Reporting Form. Please do not forget to publish the disclosure in a timely manner.

Note: Please be sure to verify pre-populated information such as the current, original and captured net tax capacities before publishing your annual disclosure statement(s). If you notice a correction is needed for an already submitted report and would like to submit a revised report, please alert us and we can mark the file for resubmission.

If you have any questions, please contact us at TIF@osa.state.mn.us.

5. Job Openings

Job Opening: Office and Administrative Specialist (OAS)

The Office of the State Auditor is hiring an Office and Administrative Specialist (OAS) to support our Pension Division. This position is a one-year, temporary role and is hybrid. The full posting is available on the OSA website. The deadline for applications is August 18, 2023.