Making budgets less confusing

If you were to ask your city or county for an explanation of how they spend your tax dollars, they might hand you a 300- or 400-page budget document. Rep. Keith Downey (R-Edina) thinks that’s too much information for the average citizen.

Downey sponsors HF1954 that would require counties and cities with populations of more than 2,500 to publish a concise breakdown of their revenues and expenditures. He envisions a one- or two-page document that embodies a “citizen-centric” view of budgeting.

“Citizens, I think, really struggle to understand what is driving their property tax increases,” Downey said. “Budget documents that are produced by local governments tend to be … largely unintelligible to the average citizen.”

The House Government Operations and Elections Committee approved the bill

Feb. 14.

Under the bill’s provisions, the affected local governments would have to publish four years’ worth of budget information broken down by “function” (i.e. public works, public safety, general administration) and “object code” (i.e. salaries, benefits, capital costs, debt service, etc.).

Supporters include Paul Reinke, a real estate developer and Oakdale city councilman who said the bill would help citizens engage in a more meaningful way with their local governments.

“This data is already in the city financial systems, and this is about organizing it in a different manner,” Reinke said.

Opponents said the bill would create a new unfunded mandate at a time when lawmakers are trying to reduce them. They also said having a single set of reporting requirements ignored the fact that different communities have different needs and unique ways of doing things.

“It’s not a proper comparison; it’s not going to tell the whole story,” said Susan Iverson, finance and administrative services director for the City of Arden Hills.

Scott County Auditor-Treasurer Cindy Geis said the information required by the bill wouldn’t provide enough context for residents to understand where their tax dollars are going and what they’re getting for them.

Approved on an 8-6 party-line vote, the bill now moves to the House State Government Finance Committee. Sen. Ted Daley (R-Eagan) sponsors the companion, SF1741, which awaits action by the Senate Local Government and Elections Committee.