State Auditor Blaha Releases 2023 County Budgets Summary Report - April 25, 2023

County Officials shifting dollars to streets and highways, sanitation, and public safety

Saint Paul, MN – “Local governments are leveraging flexibility in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to focus on ongoing needs,” said Auditor Blaha.

Earlier today, State Auditor Julie Blaha released the 2023 Minnesota County Summary Budget Report. The 2023 county budgets, adopted in 2022, provide a snapshot of budgeting priorities and represent a plan for 2023.

“The budget data shows a transition away from economic assistance and housing to prioritizing spending on streets and highways, sanitation, and public safety,” noted Blaha.

This report represents the 2023 summary budget data together with 2022 revised summary budget data and is best used as a tool to help review budget decisions for 2022 and 2023. The data reflects unaudited budgeted revenues and expenditures reported by counties to the Office of the State Auditor (OSA). Rarely do actual revenues and expenditures match the amounts budgeted. In addition, the data reported does not represent all counties’ revenues and expenditures.

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

The complete report may be viewed on the OSA website.