State auditor report examines special tax districts

Talk about it

State Auditor Rebecca Otto recently released the Special Districts Finance Report, a comprehensive report on Minnesota’s special districts revenues, expenditures and debt for

fiscal year 2009.

Special districts are local government units created or authorized by

state law to address issues that transcend traditional local government

boundaries. Special districts perform specific duties or provide

specific services in a limited scope. Some may levy taxes and/or

special assessments. Some examples of special districts services

include watershed management, soil and water conservation, sanitation,

and regional development. Some of the larger special districts in

Minnesota include the Metropolitan Council, and the Minnesota Ballpark

Authority.

Highlights from the report include:

-- Special districts reported total governmental fund revenues of $1.15

billion in 2009. The primary sources of revenues for special district

governmental funds in 2009 were taxes (28 percent), state grants (22

percent), all other revenues (14 percent), local grants (14 percent) and

federal grants (12 percent).

-- Special districts reported total governmental expenditures of $1.17

billion in 2009. Of this amount, $756.8 million were current

expenditures, $346.1 million were capital expenditures, and $67.0

million were debt service payments.

-- In 2009, special district enterprise operations reported operating

revenues of $1.96 billion, operating expenditures of $2.28 billion, and

operating losses of $315.2 million (operating revenues minus operating

expenses). In addition, special district enterprises had non-operating

revenues of $595.6 million, non-operating expenses of $257.1 million,

and a net profit of $23.3 million. Non operating revenues include

sources such as taxes, intergovernmental grants, and interest income.

-- Special districts reported $5.49 billion in outstanding long-term

debt (bonds and other long-term debt) in 2009. Three special districts

accounted for $3.90 billion, or 71.1 percent, of the total outstanding

long-term debt of special districts. The three special districts are the

Metropolitan Airports Commission; the Metropolitan Council; and the

Southern Minnesota Municipal Power Agency.

To view the complete Report, which includes an Executive Summary,

graphs and tables, go to:

http://www.auditor.state.mn.us/default.aspx?page=20110810.000.

Tags: minnesota news, news, updates, auditor, tax, government