State auditor analyzes how Cook County, other local governments spent pandemic relief funds

Minnesota State Auditor Julie Blaha presented information to state and local officials March 22 in which she analyzed two decades of local government financial trends to provide context to the 2020 financial data, which represented the first year that local governments received federal pandemic relief funds through the CARES Act.

Blaha says the COVID-19 pandemic tested local government entities like nothing else in recent history.

Among their many tasks to navigate the pandemic, local governments, including in Cook County, had to protect public health, shore up basic public services, as well as respond to an economic challenge, according to the state auditor.

Blaha says many local government entities across Minnesota found ways to get resources into the hands of residents and local businesses to stabilize their finances.

WTIP’s Joe Friedrichs spoke with Auditor Blaha about the specifics on what the findings show regarding how local governments allocated resources and spent money during 2020 as the pandemic unfolded. Audio below.

Joe Friedrichs March 28, 2022