Otto hits her GOP opponents on math
By Tom Scheck, Minnesota Public Radio
February 4, 2010
State Auditor Rebecca Otto, a Democrat,
is criticizing two of her GOP opponents over something pretty important
to the job - math.
Otto out-fundraises Pat
Anderson’s gubernatorial campaign
SAINT PAUL –
State Auditor Rebecca Otto has raised more than twice as much money as
all her republican opponents combined, her campaign said today, and has
more than ten times the cash on hand.
Otto even out fundraised former State Auditor Pat Anderson’s
gubernatorial campaign...
State's shift of its fiscal mess onto property taxes continues
News Report ST. PAUL (1/14/2010) – Minnesota cities'
revenues from property taxes have risen 102 percent since 1999, State
Auditor Rebecca Otto said today as she released a report on Minnesota
City Finances for calendar year 2008. In the report, Otto's office
examines long-term trends that show a greater reliance on property
taxes, just at the very time Minnesotans and the state's economy can
least afford it.
Cities relying more on property taxes
for revenue, state auditor reports
State auditor reports
102 percent increase over 10 years
By Bill Salisbury, Pioneer Press
Updated: 01/14/2010
11:04:01 PM CST
In what State Auditor Rebecca Otto termed a "troubling trend,"
Minnesota cities over the past decade became more dependent on
property taxes as funds from the state and federal governments
provided a smaller share of their revenue.
by Betsy Sundquist, Politics in Minnesota
Published: January 14,2010
Minnesota’s cities are being forced to rely on increased property
taxes to keep operating as revenue from government sources continues
to shrink, according to a report on 2008 city finances released
today by State Auditor Rebecca Otto.
News Release
SAINT PAUL – Responding to reports that former State
Auditor Pat Anderson was ending her failed campaign for governor and now
running for State Auditor, current State Auditor Rebecca Otto said she
“welcomes” Anderson to the race. “I think it will be an important race,” Otto said.
“Minnesota families can’t afford another four years of the hundreds of
millions of dollars in financial errors made by Ms. Anderson when she
was State Auditor, and the political grandstanding that drove up our
property taxes...
by: Kendal Killian, MN
Progressive Project
Mon Jan 11, 2010 at 13:32:04 PM CST
This morning, State Auditor
Rebecca Otto kicked off her campaign for reelection at a Capitol news
conference. The event was attended by scores of supporters (including
Franni Franken), legislators and union leaders. In response to the
announcement, Minnesota GOP Chairman Tony Sutton released a weak
critique...
Joking that she's the "Rodney Dangerfield of constitutional
officers," state Auditor Rebecca Otto today announced she would seek a
second term in office.
St. Paul, Minn. — State Auditor Rebecca Otto says she's running for
re-election. Otto, a DFLer, announced her plans Monday at the State
Capitol, surrounded by supporters and family members.
State Auditor Rebecca Otto racked up a couple union endorsements
Monday in her reelection bid. Here's what the International Union
of Operating Engineers Local 49 had to say in a release:
SAINT PAUL – State Auditor Rebecca
Otto today announced her campaign to run for re-election in 2010. Citing
Minnesota’s budget crisis, she said she wants to lead the State
Auditor’s Office to continue to improve government efficiency,
accountability, and transparency. “Tight times require government
innovation,” Otto said.
August 5, 2009
It appears that a kitty has adopted State Auditor Rebecca Otto rather
than the other way around.
Otto, husband Shawn and dog Lucy were taking their morning walk last
week when "a little kitten jumped out of the woods and started running
after us, which was kind of strange because I have a big dog. We tried
to shoo it away, for a whole mile."
There are a lot of ways local government can save money by using less
energy, and the Minnesota State Auditor’s office has now won an award
for its detailed report on how to do just that.
“Green” State Auditor report contains “some
of the most innovative thinking” in U.S.
June 16, 2009
WASHINGTON - The National State Auditors
Association (NSAA) has awarded the Best Practices Review: Reducing
Energy Costs in Local Government issued by State Auditor Rebecca Otto in
July of 2008 its prestigious 2009 NSAA Excellence in Accountability
Award for a special project.
“NSAA is privileged to recognize some of the most innovative thinking in
the current state auditing environment,” said Tom McTavish, Michigan’s
Auditor General and Chair of the NSAA Excellence in Accountability
Awards Committee.
Minnesota Auditor Rebecca Otto, and her husband, Shawn, operate a
12-kilowatt wind turbine at their home in Marine on St. Croix. The
turbine provides 80 percent of power they use
When it comes to wind power, small is
beautiful.
The same credit crunch that’s depressed real estate has also made banks
skittish about lending huge sums for utility scale wind farms, but the
downturn is having no effect whatsoever on small wind-turbine
manufacturers.
City officials disagree with governor on using reserve
funds to replace portions of LGA By Mike Rose | Austin Daily
Herald
Published Friday, June 12, 2009
They’re often called rainy day funds. Other
times they’re called reserves. No matter the title, Gov. Tim Pawlenty is
calling on cities to dip into them given almost certain Local Government
Aid cuts — an idea that’s not being well received in Austin.
Brooklyn Center illustrates the complex
debate over state aid -- and how much a city can cut before it hurts. By MIKE KASZUBA, Star
Tribune
June 10, 2009
Gov. Tim Pawlenty has not singled
out Brooklyn Center when he wonders aloud whether cities are doing
enough to cut spending.
But in some ways, the first-ring Minneapolis suburb could serve as a
prime exhibit of what the Republican governor said is a major problem as
he considers another round of cuts in aid to cities to help balance the
state budget through his controversial use of the "unallotment" process.
Carolyn Lange, West
Central Tribune
Published Wednesday, March 18, 2009
WILLMAR — Calling her job the “Rodney
Dangerfield of constitutional offices,” state Auditor Rebecca Otto said
she doesn’t “make the rules” but makes sure that the rules are followed
when taxpayer money is being spent.
March is National Women’s History
Month, and this year Minnesota State Auditor Rebecca Otto of May
Township will be a 2009 honoree of the National Women’s History Project.
She is being recognized for her work as a “Woman Taking the Lead to Save
Our Planet,” the theme of the 2009
National Women’s
History Month.
Cities lean heavily on property taxes to keep functioning As state and federal assistance dries
up, Minnesota's 855 cities are relying more on property taxes for their
revenue, a new report finds. And that spells trouble.
By BOB VON STERNBERG, Star
Tribune
January 15, 2009
It will come as no surprise to Minnesota
homeowners that their cities have increasingly relied on property taxes
to operate in recent years.
But a new report from the state auditor's office quantifies just how
dramatically that reliance has grown -- and has sobering implications at
a time when the state faces a massive budget shortfall and home prices
statewide are cratering.
by Charley Shaw, Staff Writer,
FINANCE AND COMMERCE
April 29, 2008 Local governments resort to raising property taxes
Minnesota’s townships have been
feeling a financial pinch in the last five years, according to a new
report from the State Auditor’s office.
The report, released last week, reported five- and 10-year trends in
which state financial support for towns has declined and local property
taxes have been increased.
State Auditor Rebecca Otto today
unveiled
a new web site.
The main goals of this new and improved web site are to be user-friendly
for all audiences, to allow visitors to be just two clicks away from the
information they are seeking, and to be secure.
Thursday, 25 October 2007 by T.W. Budig, ECM capitol reporter
A whirling intermediary translates the sky
over State Auditor Rebecca Otto’s home. Otto and her husband
screenwriter Shawn Lawrence Otto
As Minnesota's state auditor, I feel it's
my responsibility to weigh in on the debate about whether or not to
include inflation in the state budget forecast, which the governor cited
as the cause of his veto of the tax bill.
