FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 24, 2020
State Auditor Working to Help Local Governments
Contact information: Brianna Ludwig, North Dakota State Auditor’s Office, 701-328-2453, bsludwig@nd.gov
State Auditor Gallion today released the following definition of annual receipts to mitigate any added burden to local governments who may receive federal disaster funding.
North Dakota state law requires the State Auditor’s Office (or a private firm) to conduct audits of local governments once every two years. If annual receipts are less than $300,000 for political subdivisions other than cities and school districts, they may submit an annual financial report in lieu of an audit. With the disaster funding coming from the federal government, that could put annual receipts for many of our local governments over $300,000 which would mean the added burden of conducting audits in many local governments that have never had one before nor have the funding to pay for an audit.
“We have worked with the Attorney General’s Office to better define annual receipts in regard to our local government division,” said Auditor Gallion. “This is one small way our office can help to alleviate any added burden on local governments during a declared disaster.”
Annual receipts, for the purposes of the State Auditor’s Office, are defined as “Receipts include revenue items such as property taxes, special assessments, intergovernmental revenues, fees, charges for services, federal and state grants, donations, and other miscellaneous revenue items. Receipts that a political subdivision may receive directly as a result of a disaster declaration issued by the President of the United States, the Governor of North Dakota, or the jurisdiction’s principal executive officer (mayor or chairman of county commission) are not considered annual receipts for the purpose of determining if the political subdivision has exceeded $300,000 under N.D.C.C. 54-10-14(3). These receipts will be classified and recorded as a special item on the annual report within its total revenue.”
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