Whatever’s ultimately decided about who conducts audits of county governments in Minnesota, the debate should focus on what’s best for taxpayers and transparency.

On one side, State Auditor Rebecca Otto, easily re-elected last fall to her third four-year term, is defending the mission and scope of her office in the face of new legislation that allows more counties to hire private accounting firms to do audits now undertaken by her staff.

On the other are those like Rep. Sarah Anderson, a Plymouth Republican, who told us the disagreement “is more about protecting turf.”

The measure was included in a wide-ranging state government funding bill that passed in the final hours of this year’s regular legislative session and was signed by Gov. Mark Dayton.

It was the middle of the night, Otto said, when “people don’t make good decisions.” She wants Minnesotans to understand what’s at risk with privatization: Efforts to diminish the work of her office put us “at a crossroads as a state in terms of whether we’re going to continue our good government legacy,” she told the editorial board.

The state auditor argues that counties — unlike other government entities — uniquely serve as arms of the state as its dollars flow for human services, corrections, transportation and other programs counties run.

The work of the state auditor’s staff provides a needed double-check on those taxpayer dollars, Otto told us. “That’s the role of this office, so people can trust their government.”

There’s concern, too, about dates in the measure. It makes privatization effective Aug. 1, 2016, but also includes a provision, Otto said, under which her agency loses its audit authority effective July 1, 2015. With work under way and deadlines looming, “It’s going to create chaos,” she said.

But Rep. Anderson, chair of the State Government Finance Committee, argues that it’s “still up for debate whether that’s truly the case.”

But even if it were, she said, the matter would amount to “a simple fix,” “a technical correction” that could be accomplished in the coming special session.

Audits for 28 of the state’s 87 counties already are handled by private auditing firms. Former State Auditor Pat Anderson, whom Otto defeated in 2006 and again in 2010, explained that after cuts during the Pawlenty administration there no longer was a large enough staff to audit all of the counties.

The policy allows Swift County in west central Minnesota to pay half the rate of surrounding counties, Rep. Sarah Anderson told us.

“That’s a pretty compelling argument for taxpayers,” the lawmaker said. “Any time the counties can save money, that helps to offset the property tax burden.”

At the same time, Rep. Sarah Anderson told us, “we think it’s OK for Hennepin County — the largest county in our state money-wise and population-wise” — to also seek its audits in the private market.

Further, explains Julie Ring, executive director of the Association of Minnesota Counties, the authority to engage in a private audit is something other local units of government, including towns, school boards and all but the largest cities, already have. (The auditor’s office, Otto said, has the authority to audit all cities and school districts, and would do so if it was deemed in the public’s interest.)

In addition to the ability to compare costs, timeliness and communication are issues for the counties. Timelines in the state auditor’s office are a factor in “audit reports coming back too late to be of use in the next budget cycle,” Ring said.

She notes that the auditor’s office has put in place worksheets and other tools to “help counties be ready move forward as quickly as possible,” but even with those improvements, counties “still feel turn-around time from the state auditor’s office is often problematic.”

Ramsey County Board Chairman Jim McDonough cited good service from the state auditor’s office and a relationship that works well. He told us flexibility for counties is important but that he “doesn’t see us making a move.”

Others among the association’s member counties agree. They like working with the state auditor’s office and are happy with its service, Ring said.

Regardless of any moves, she points out, the state auditor’s oversight remains key.

The office “still does a desk review of every private audit,” and can ask for more information as needed, Ring said. “We think that’s an important piece of the oversight, and an appropriate and important role for that office.”

Some have suggested political motivations for the move, including Otto’s opposition to granting some mining leases in northern Minnesota.

Former Gov. Arne Carlson, also a former state auditor, goes further in a blog post Tuesday suggesting that “this episode represents a most dangerous threat to our state’s Constitution in that it constitutes an effort to intimidate an elected official.”

What’s transpired “doesn’t hurt me politically,” Otto told us. “I’ll still be here. It’s just that I’m not going to be running an extraordinarily important function for the people, and that’s wrong.”

When they gather for the special session, lawmakers should make clarity on the office’s audit authority an agenda priority. Beyond that, Otto’s concerns deserve full, light-of-day consideration by lawmakers and citizens. Lawmaking under cloak of night is for people with something to hide.

 

— St. Paul Pioneer Press, June 3