State Auditor's E-Update - 2/18/2022
1. Message from Auditor Blaha
2. Released: Investment Performance Information
3. Released: 2020 TIF Annual Legislative Report
4. Avoiding Pitfall: Vendor Gifts
1. Message from Auditor Blaha
I hope you will join me next week for the 2022 State of Main Street listening tour. This year’s listening sessions will be focused on five major regions of our state (NE, NW, SE, SW, Metro) and conducted virtually via Zoom.
The annual State of Main Street is an opportunity for the Office of the State Auditor (OSA) to hear from you directly to ensure our numbers tell the real story of your community. These listening sessions bring together the expertise and perspective of local government leaders and our data. Listening and learning from each other leads to better decisions, and better decisions lead to stronger communities.
Register for the listening sessions on the OSA website.
If you have any questions or would like to participate as a panelist for your regions listening session, please contact Megan Thrasher at megan.thrasher@osa.state.mn.us or 612-231-3120.
2. Released: Investment Performance Information
Minnesota Statutes require the Office of the State Auditor (OSA) to annually provide to volunteer fire relief associations information on the investment performance of the Minnesota State Board of Investment and on the voluntary Statewide Volunteer Firefighter Plan administered by the Public Employees Retirement Association. The 2022 Investment Performance Information document, which provides information for the 2021 calendar year, can be found on the OSA website.
3. Released: 2020 TIF Annual Legislative Report
This week State Auditor Julie Blaha released the Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Legislative Report. The Report summarizes information reported by 394 development authorities for 1,661 districts for calendar year ended December 31, 2020, and provides a summary of the violations cited in the limited-scope reviews conducted by the Office of the State Auditor in 2021. The Report can be accessed on the OSA website.
4. Avoiding Pitfall: Vendor Gifts
Sometimes vendors with public contracts offer gifts to local government employees to foster goodwill. Although vendor relationships can be cordial, they should not involve gifts to public employees.
To avoid problems, government employees should not accept personal gifts from vendors or contractors. We recommend that entities create an ethics policy that expressly prohibits officers and employees from accepting personal gifts from vendors or contractors.
This Avoiding Pitfall is available on our website.