1. Message from Auditor Blaha

2. Opportunity: Relief Association Training Session

3. Reminder: TIF Annual Reporting Forms Due August 2

4. We’re Hiring! Join our OSA Team

5. Available: 2021 County TIF Training Video

6. Avoiding Pitfall: Cashing Checks

---

1. Message from Auditor Blaha

As we begin to reopen our offices in Saint Paul and throughout Minnesota, it feels like we have officially begun to turn the corner. We are meeting again in person, traveling across the state, and growing our team.

Over the next few months the Office of the State Auditor (OSA) will be hiring for positions in a number of our locations in Minnesota. In addition to keeping a robust audit team (see item #4 with our current list of openings), we are adding a school team and we have picked up the State of Minnesota's single audit.

Please share these openings with people in your network. One of the things we pride ourselves on at the OSA is our work-life balance. Notably, as we come out on the other side of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have taken strides to be even more flexible and supportive of a true balance for our teams work lives and personal lives.

---

2. Opportunity: Relief Association Training Session

The last of the Office of the State Auditor’s summer webinar training sessions for volunteer fire relief associations will be held on July 27. For additional information about the training session and to register, click here.

---

3. Reminder: TIF Annual Reporting Forms Due August 2

Authorities must submit 2020 TIF Annual Reporting Forms to the Office of the State Auditor (OSA) using the State Auditor Form Entry System (SAFES) on or before August 2, 2021. Instructions, sample forms, and videos on how to fill out and submit TIF reporting forms are available under the heading “Resources for Completing Forms” on the TIF Forms page of the OSA website. If you have any questions, please contact us at TIF@osa.state.mn.us.

---

4. We’re Hiring! Join our OSA Team

The Office of the State Auditor (OSA) is hiring! We have local government auditor positions currently open in Moorhead and Mankato. The positions are posted on the Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB) website.

Please use the following job numbers to search for the open positions: Moorhead (47435) and Mankato (47446).

---

5. Available: 2021 County TIF Training Video

The Office of the State Auditor (OSA) offered TIF training via webinar for county staff who work with TIF in administering the property tax system. If you missed it or would like to revisit portions, a recording of the webinar is now available on our website under the "Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Division" sub-header.

---

6. Avoiding Pitfall: Cashing Checks

Thefts and embezzlements can occur when employees responsible for receiving checks on behalf of a public entity bring a check made out to the entity to the local bank and cash it, taking the money.

To reduce this risk, the back side of all checks received by a public entity should be stamped “For Deposit Only” as soon as they are received. In addition, a public entity should instruct their financial institution in writing not to cash checks made payable to the public entity.

This Avoiding Pitfall is available on our website here.