State auditor urges modest operating boost to protect audits as staff shortages grow

State Auditor Julie Blaha told the House State Government Finance and Policy Committee on April 1 that the Office of the State Auditor (OSA) needs an operating adjustment of $486,000 in the coming biennium to protect 14.5 positions and to sustain oversight services to local governments.

Blaha said the OSA oversees roughly $40,000,000,000 in local government activity and has recently taken on the statewide single audit of federal funds. "We oversee about $40,000,000,000 in local government activity," she said, and noted the office met the statewide single-audit deadline the day before the hearing.

The request, presented by Blaha and Matt Lindeman, the auditor's finance director, is framed as a retention and capacity measure: about 85% of the office's budget pays staff salaries and benefits, so personnel changes drive costs. Lindeman told the committee the net cost of…