Auallor - rts: Legisiatve Special session _ rage 1 ‘Subject: RE: Legislative Special Session Good moming, emailed and maid (via US Postal) hard copies to the Governor, Senators Bakk, Pappas, Gazelka and Representatives Daudt, Thissen, Mark Anderson and Steve Green on Friday. | also left two voicemail messages for AMC- Julie Ring. When I got home Friday night | saw in the Strib that the Governor had agreed to "choice" ofthe legislature would change the date to 2017. Is that a reasonable "compromise" to kean the OSA tunctioning? | received a reply from Merk Anderson. He is very supportive of providing choice to the Counties. | asked him, again about funding sources in order to ensure the OSA mission is stil covered, but he seems to think ths issue has surfaced because the legislature is "auditing" the OSA and the OSA is uncomfortable with that. It has been an interesting exchange. There are two sides fiere and he has come down on the businessman/ free market side. He also says that any CPA firm will have to provide audit services thet are identical to those from the OSA. The joles in the Sunday Strib (front page and Lori Sturdevant's column) were very good, | hope this all works out in favor of the OSA, whether or not Counties are given a choice. Bottom line~ihe OSA is vital and necessary. After some though, | would prefer not receiving phone calls from the media. Some media are not trustworthy. I hepe you wil understand Sincerely, Judy ~Original Message. From: State Auditor ‘Sent: Friday, June 05, 2015 5:43 PM To: Judy Taves Subject: Re: Legslative Special Session | cannot thank ycu enough for such a wonderful letter. Can | share it with anyone or no? >>> uy 7: Good afternoan, Rebecca, It was good to tak with you yesterday. 1am attaching my letter of support All the best and thanks for all of your work for Minnesota. Kind regards, Judy Taves Wadena County Auditor/Treasurer 415 Jefferson Steet South Wadena, MN_58482(7 TTEOT] State Auditor - RE: Legislative Special Session Page 2! Disclaimer: Information in this message or an attachment may be government data and thereby subject to the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act, Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 13, may be confidential, privileged, proprietary, or otherwise protected, and the unauthorized review. copying, retransmission, oF ‘ther use or disclosure of the information is strictly prohibited. if you are not the intended recipient of this, message, please immadiately naiify the sender of the transmission error and then promptly delete this message from your computer system Caution: This e-mail may contain CONFIDENTIAL information or information protected by state or federal law. If you have received this e-mail by mistake, please do not read, distribute, or reproduce it (including any attachments). Please notify us immediately by return e-mail, and then delete it from your system. Thank you,Judy Taves Wadena County Courthouse Auditor/Treasurer 415 Jefferson Street South 218-631-7784 Wadena, MN 56482 Tammy Lupkes Office: 218-631-7650 Deputy Auditer/Treasurer 218-631-7621 Fax: 216-631-7652 June 4, 2015 Governor Mark Dayton Senator Sandy Pappas Senator Tom Bek Senator Paul Gezelka Representative Curt Daudt Representative Paul Thissen Representative Mark Anderson Representative Steve Green Minnesota State Capitol St. Paul, MN 55103 Good morning, ‘Thank you for all that you do for the citizens of our great State of Minnesota. Your dedication and service are appreciated. I know that you are faced with a myriad of issues, with differing opinions on their respective merits, as you make budget decisions during the legislative session. Lam contacting you today regarding the Office of the State Auditor. It is my understanding that there wes language inserted in a bill during the last hours of the session that, literally, eliminates the audit authority of the State Auditor as of July 1, 2015. I was unaware that this was under consideration or I would have written to you, in support of the Office of the State Auditor, during the regular session. am also concerned with the privatization language that Is scheduled to take effect on July 1, 2016. On the surface, choice sounds positive, Tax dollars are scarce and the temptation for some might be to simply take the low bidder for the County's annual audit. Ttis possible that there are accounting firms who would be willing to take a loss for two or three years in order to gain business, However, public accounting firms are “for profit” so the low bid amounts wouldn't be sustainable, Further, a certain type of knowledge and expertise is required to effectively audit a County. Mearwhile, there would be an inability on the pert of the Office of the State Auditor to maintain audit staff and their current levels of service including oversight and guidance on ‘compliance issues for the 28 counties who presently hire private accounting firms. At some point, there won't be enough staff remaining to enable the State Auditor's Office to remain functional.Is there another way to fund this Office? Would the legislative bodies be willing to consider ways to supplemert or cover the costs of audits for Minnesota Counties? The Office of the State Auditor was not established to be a player in the private market sector. It is an oversight agency for all units of local government. Their work includes many important functions: auditing, reviewing, investigating, reporting, and educating. The Audit Practice Dvision performs approximately 150 financial and compliance audits and reviews, approximately 400 single audits per year. This division establishes uniform reporting standards and provides technical assistance and education to local units of government, which strengthens accounting practices and promotes good goverment at the local level. The Pension Division reviews investment, financial, and actuarial reporting for almost 700 public pension plens. Its objective is to ensure compliance with state statutes governing the administration of plans covering epproximately 20,000 members. ‘The Legall/Special Investigations Division investigates allegations of theft or misuse of public funds. It also provides legal camplance information and training to local government officials and provides legal ‘compliance expertise to staff within the Office of the State Auditor. ‘The Government Information Division collects and analyzes local government financial data, which is assembled in regular reports provided to the Legislature and the public. It also conducts a Best Practices Review of local government operations. The reports assist the Legislature with planning and policy- making decisions related to local governments, ‘The Office of the State Auditor works to help Minnesota's local govemments succeed by providing the tools and resources necessary to be successful stewards of public funds. To meet this goal, the Office regularly holds training sessions and seminars across the state to inform and educate local government officials end help them meet their responsibilities. Which of these essential functions would you eliminate? Local governments in Minnesota spend more than $20 billion dollars annually. By performing audits of local government financial statements and by reviewing documents, data, reports and complaints, the State Auditor's Office works to ensure that local government funds are used for the purposes intended by law and that local governments hold themselves to the highest standards of financial accountability. Having spent most of my career in public accounting, I was appointed as Wadena County Auditor/Treasurer in March, 2013 and was subsequently elected to a four year term. During my two years with the County I have had the opportunity to work with the Office of the State Auditor. Our assigned “team” Is based in Moorhead, Without exception, these men and women are professional ard knowledgeable. Striving for efficiency without losing the integrity of the audit is important to me. We are in the middle of our audit for 2014; It would be an extreme hardship for us to ose the ability to work with the Office of the State Auditor on July 1, 2015. As a Minnesota taxpayer, I am grateful for the hard work of the State Auditor's Office. At our County offices, and sometimes in other settings, I often hear statements of cynicism or disgust or distrust for “government” in general, I hear people joke about how many governors of other states have been put in jail or about corruption scandals. That said, I do not hear a lot of complaints about Minnesota government, overall. Minnesota is a great place to live and work and part of that greatness is knowing that we have an agency tasked with ensuring thatgovernment funds are used for their intended purposes and that local governments are held to high standards, “The Office of the State Auditor is vital to Minnesota taxpayers. Please restore the audit authority which is set to expire on July 1* and also eliminate the privatization language. Careful consideration is essential with @ decision that could decimate this essential Office. ‘Thank you for your consideration of my letter, Respectfully submitted, Judy Taves cc: Commissioner Sheldon Monson County Coordinator Curtis Kreklau, Jr.Redstca Oto - Re: legislation that passeo Page From: Rebecca Otto To: Bart (SAO) Hinton Date: 6/16'2015 4:58 PM Subject: _Re: legislation that passed We are pursuing all options at this time. Wish | had been able to attend the conference. | had to cancel my fight etc due to the situation. Sincerely, Rebecea Otto State Auditor 825 Park St. Suite 500 St. Paul, MN 55103 >>> "Hinton, Barb (SAC) III 6/16/2015 4:16 PM >>> Rebecce-| heard about the bill that passed while | was at the NSA meeting in Litle Rock last week. What in the world were they thinking?? | ean only imagine the stress you and your staff are under. Do you think there's @ chance the bill wil be overturned next session? BarbRook Paget Rebecca Otto Roger Norman Debra Schulz Date: 6/4/2015 5:30 PM. Subject: Re: NSAA- Lite Rock Thank you Roger. That is very kind of you. | need prayers right now. | am disappointed that | will not be able to atiand. | have to save this vital function for the taxpayers of this state. | wish you all the best in hosting. | loved when | hosted the conference in MN. | know it willbe a great conference! Sincerely, Rebecca Otto State Auditor D Park St. Suite £00 St. Paul, MN 55103, >>> Roger Norman i 6/4/2015 5:08 PM >>> Rebecca, I've been reading Some of the articles about what you are going through. YOU are in my thoughts and prayers. Hope you can make itto Little Rook, but We are pulling for youl understand if you cannot Roger Roger A. Norman, .0, CPA, CFE, CFF Legislative Auditor - State of Arkansas Arkansas Legislative Audit State Capitol 500 Woodlane St_Ste 172 Little Rock AR_ 72201-1099 MO es CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: The information in this message is confidential and may be legally privileged. Its interded for the addressee. Access to this message by anyone else is unauthorized. If you are not the intended recipient, any disclosure, copying, or distribution of the message, or any action (or omission taken by you in reliance on itis prohibited and may be unlawful. Please contact the sender immediately if you have received this message in error. Thank you.Pajei From: To: Date: 8/5/2015 10:38 AM Subject: state vs private auditors Rebbeca, | Just want to teke a min local governments. | also want to give a pl professional and very nelpful, especialy in th population wise and probably staffing wise). to voice my suppor for the OSA in their quest to maintain the abiity to audit Marshall MN branch of the OSA. They are fe case of a small county ike ours (smallest in th If the legislation does not go the way we would Iike, | would possibly like to arrange a short teleconference with my board with yourself or someone from the OSA to push to keep the OSA as our aucit team. Kit Johnson Traverse Courty AuditorTreasurer PO Box 428 Wheaton, MN 56296