Press Release: State Auditor Blaha Releases 2020 City Budgets Summary Report

Budget to actual summaries should help cities identify fiscal impacts

Saint Paul, MN – “The challenges of predicting the future are evident in the 2020 budgets cities adopted in 2019. The city budgets in our report, which were adopted in November and December of 2019, provide a snapshot of financial priorities before the COVID-19 pandemic and the murder of George Floyd,” said Auditor Blaha. “As they approach the half way point in their fiscal year, it’s a good time for local officials to compare these goals to actual revenue and expenditures to make adjustments.”

Earlier today, State Auditor Julie Blaha released the annual Minnesota City Budgets Report: 2020 Summary Budget Data Together with 2019 Revised Summary Budget Data. This publication presents 2019 (revised) and 2020 budget data for Minnesota cities. The data reflects unaudited budgeted revenues and expenditures reported by cities to the Office of the State Auditor (OSA) as required by Minn. Stat. § 6.745, subd. 1.

The data in this report is best used as a tool to help review budgeting decisions for the years 2019 and 2020. The budget represents a plan, reported by the city, for the coming year. Rarely do actual revenues and expenditures match the amount budgeted. In addition, the data reported does not represent all city revenues and expenditures.

Cities report budget data only for funds for which an annual budget is adopted. Cities with funds where annual budgets are not adopted would have more revenues and expenditures than reported here. Also, the revenues and expenses of city public service enterprises are not included. The inclusion of enterprise funds would significantly alter the revenue and expenditure trends of cities. Because of the limitations of budget data, as it is a plan, the OSA recommends using the financial information provided in our publication, Minnesota City Finances, which are the actual revenues and expenditures.

To view the complete scope of the report click here.