One part of the County Auditor's Role is to Act as the Chief Election Administrator for the County.
- I will ensure that we hold secure, accurate, and transparent elections at the county.
- I believe election security is critical and I will protect public confidence in election results through accountability, thorough audits, and nonpartisan election administration.
𝐼𝑡'𝑠 𝑖𝑚𝑝𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑣𝑜𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑑𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑜𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟.
- The Auditor's many duties are all statutorily assigned by the State of Minnesota. The Auditor/Treasurer manual can be found in the link below - it contains over 300 pages! There are other duties not listed by statute that the Sherburne County Auditor handles - one example is paying out gopher bounties! Who knew that fun fact??
Basic Duties of the County Auditor
The duties of the county auditor vary from county to county, depending upon the decisions of the county board. Duties that county auditors perform are outlined in Minnesota Statutes, Chapter 384 and may include any of the following:
- Serve as clerk to the county board; responsible for preparing and preserving the minutes and preparing the annual financial statement for the county
- Maintain the official financial records for the county, including ledger journals
- Sign all warrants issued against the county and oversee the monthly trial balance
- Serve as recipient of all bids on behalf of the county construction projects, equipment, and services provided
- Calculate the tax capacity rates for all taxing jurisdictions in the county and compute the tax on each parcel of land
- Send the Truth-in-Taxation and annual tax statements to taxpayers
- Collect delinquent taxes and distribute collections to proper taxing districts
- Research the legality of and initiate Confessions of Judgment relating to the payment of taxes
- Work with property tax credits and the deferment of tax to qualifying Agricultural Preserve Programs and Green Acres Program
- Collect special assessments for cities and townships and distribute collections to proper taxing authority
- Initiate or concur with assessor in the preparation and issuance of tax abatements
- Identify, track, and implement legal proceedings of the tax forfeiture process and conduct tax forfeited land sales
- Remain involved with the Department of Natural Resources on lease lots, state leases, forestry issues and severed minerals
- Issue tax certificates under the seal of the office indicating whether taxes are paid or not
- Complete the auditor’s certificate for requesting entities with all pertinent taxing information relating to the taxing district
- Administer the fiscal disparities program, which involves calculating contributions and redistributing aid
- Administer all aspects of tax increment financing
- Maintain up to date records on each parcel of land in the county, including legal description and ownership and any transfers, sales, splits, mortgages, etc.
- Record all county and judicial ditch proceedings and assess any payments ordered by the ditch board
- Act as the chief election administrator for the county
- Serve as the deputy registrar for the county
- Serve as the administrator for vital statistics
- Issue liquor, wine, beer, auctioneer, dance, dangerous dog, charitable gambling, and other licenses deemed by the county to be appropriate
- Serve as a member of the Board of Equalization, Canvassing Board, and Secretary of the Extension Committee.
The above list is just an example of the types of duties a county auditor may be required to perform. In addition, every auditor has many personnel duties to attend to.
In my 12 years at Sherburne County I have gained the experience and acquired the knowledge and resources needed to successfully complete the assigned duties. It is crucial to understand all of the duties for this position to be able to have proper oversight of the county's finances and be able to effectively safeguard taxpayer dollars.