OSA Weekly Update - 10/18/2024
1. Message from Auditor Blaha
2. Relief Associations: Fire State Aid Deadline
3. Update: TIF Annual Reporting Redesign Project
4. Avoiding Pitfall: Donations of Gambling Funds
5. Job Openings
1. Message from Auditor Blaha
As election season heats up, we at the OSA are getting more questions about how tax increment financing (TIF) works. TIF options are an emerging topic in a few city elections. When we receive these calls, we start folks with the video An Introduction to TIF. While we don’t wade into specific campaign issues, we hope we can help people understand the basic concepts behind this economic development tool. Feel free to share the video with your residents as well.
2. Relief Associations: Fire State Aid Deadline
The next deadline for fire relief associations to be certified as eligible for receipt of their 2024 fire and supplemental state aid is November 1. If your relief association has not yet submitted its 2023 reporting-year forms to the OSA or has been notified by the OSA’s Pension Division staff that additional information is needed, please provide the forms or information as soon as possible.
To be certified as eligible for receipt of state aid in the next round of payments, a relief association must have submitted all required 2023 reporting information to the OSA with enough time for the OSA to complete its review and for all issues identified by the OSA to have been satisfactorily resolved by the relief association before November 1.
A list of the 2024 fire and supplemental state aid amounts is posted on the OSA website.
3. Update: TIF Annual Reporting Redesign Project
The TIF Division recently shared and sought feedback on an initial vision for a redesigned TIF Annual Reporting Form. Thank you to all who provided feedback. We hoped that people would have ideas for improvements, and we were not disappointed!
Some of the feedback we received has prompted us to adjust the proposed form. In other areas, the feedback suggested users might benefit from additional clarification about some of the proposed changes. We thought it would be helpful to share a summary of what we heard, highlights of what we plan to adjust as a result, and some clarifications. We sent an email with this summary, but if you did not receive it, you can find the summary on the OSA website.
The next step will be to share a beta version next summer with interested reviewers. If you would like to be included and have not already indicated so, please email Jason.Nord@osa.state.mn.us.
4. Avoiding Pitfall: Donations of Gambling Funds
Cities, towns, and counties may not use donations from lawful gambling for the benefit of a pension or retirement fund. Therefore, even if a city or town finds it difficult to make the required municipal contribution to its firefighters’ pension fund, the city/town cannot use gambling funds for the contribution.
The Avoiding Pitfall is available on the OSA website.
5. Job Openings
Local Government Auditor Staff Specialist Senior
The OSA is hiring a Local Government Auditor Staff Specialist Senior who will work with the Standards and Procedures group within the Audit Division. This position provides oversight of audits conducted to ensure conformance with professional standards, while also providing technical guidance. There are a lot of opportunities for diverse work within Standards and Procedures as we problem solve, review reports, implement and research standards, and issue and review guidance for OSA staff and external entities.
The job posting will close on October 24, 2024.
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