Imbalance of Power
Frey Budget Further
Tips the Scale
The power struggle in city hall continues in the 2026 budget.
Not only with the usual disputes over the police budget, but now Mayor Jacob
Frey’s recommendation to cut funds to the City Auditor has both staff and
council members raising concerns.
The Minneapolis City Auditor is one of only two department
heads that the mayor doesn’t appoint and can’t fire. Under the new government
structure established after the so-called strong mayor charter amended passed,
the city auditor and city clerk are the only two departments left that do not
answer to the mayor. All the other 18-some departments are under the mayor’s
authority.
The clerk’s office reports to the council directly.
The city auditor formally reports to neither the mayor nor
the city council. They report to the audit committee that appoints them and is made
up of two council members, a park board commissioner, and four community
members.
In 2022, the auditor was presented to the council as a new, “executive-level
appointed position” that would have two complementary roles. One was as “independent
Officer of Municipal Government” as established in the charter responsible for “providing
independent, objective assurance and consulting services to evaluate and
improve municipal operations.” The
second was to serve as the “the professional arm of the City Council by
assisting the Council and its Committees with legitimate legislative, policymaking,
and oversight functions.”
This was to be called the Legislative and Fiscal Analysis
division would provide professional, nonpartisan research, analytical, and
consulting services to the city council and its committees in the performance
of official legislative, policymaking, and oversight functions. The other Performance
Evaluation Division would run a performance management program to gather
responsive data and evaluate enterprise performance against established goals,
policies, and priorities as articulated by the council.
Since then, however, after years of delay, and despite it
being funding in the auditor’s 2025 budget with 10 positions, the city attorney
determined that the legislative analysis division was incompatible with the
independence requirements of the office of city auditor. So, this year’s budget
includes the transfer of funding for 10 staff members to establish it in the office
of the city clerk.
That shift of 10 positions accounts for much, but not all, of
the mayor’s proposed cuts to the auditor’s budget which is being reduced by roughly
51%, from $3,365,244 to $1,718,681.
At the same time the mayor has proposed to increase his own
office budget from $2,709,277 to $3,287,734 and reduce the police department
budget by less that 2% from 225,799,700
to $225,566,426.
On October 17, at a city council budget committee, the City
Auditor, Robert Timmerman, presented the department’s budget and informed the
council that, unless it is increased, it would mean laying off two recently
hired staff.
“The office of city auditor,” said Timmerann, “is the only
independent objective office to provide the city leadership with assurance and advisory
service and report publicly on the city’s regulatory compliance and accuracy of
city controls.”
“The mayor’s budget is misleading and, quite frankly,
misrepresents the reality of our current staffing complement,” he said while
making the case that he needed 3 additional staff to keep up with the workload.
"The mayor's office resisted an investment in oversight
and accountability when we sought the 4 FTEs [Full Time Equivalent staff
positions] during 2025, and I'm concerned it's once again doing the same,"
said Timmerman. "I am comfortable
calling this out as the budget of the city auditor should not be used for
political gamesmanship."
"This is a real threat to the independence of the
office,” he added, “when the body we most frequently audit proposes to reduce
our budget and the ability to provide review of their ongoing work,” clearly
referring to the mayor and the mayor’s administration.
The city auditor position was the only added position that
was required as part of the 2021 strong mayor charter provision and has become a
vehicle the council turns to gather information and identify problems in city
operations.
In recent months the council turned to the auditor several
times. One recent audit focused on a contract with Helix Health & Housing
Services. Another on the city's response to the armed federal operation on June
3rd, 2025.
Ward 9 Council Member Jason Chavez said, “I believe this is
something we have to fix in this budget,” and sited the Helix findings of
overpayments uncovered by the auditor as evidence of the office’s value. The
audit also found that supporting documentation for invoices for the no-bid
contract was not always complete, accurate, or clear.
Just this month, the council formally requested the auditor
to develop an independent review of how the city operates in situations
involving imminent harm and crisis responses to high-impact public safety
cases, such as those leading up to the murder of Mariah Samuels, who was killed
by her abuser after repeated requests for help, as well as the murder of Alison
Lussier and shooting of David Moturi under similar circumstances.
Timmerman also referenced a “lack of cooperation from MPD”
and “the insertion of the federation in our review,” as demanding extra staff
time and work.
In an earlier budget meeting the police department’s
presentation also raised concerns. Council members Emily Koski, Katie Cashman and
Robin Wonsley shared questions and concerns about the department’s mounted horse
unit that is still operating despite its loss of funding last year. Police
Chief Brian O’Hara explained that they have funded the program anyway using funding
from elsewhere is the department’s budget.
It was also revealed that MPD did not hire two of the five civilian
investigators that the council added to their budget last year. This indicates, that despite specific
approvals on budget details and amendments that designate funds for specific
expenditures and not for others, the mayor, who according to the city charter
has “complete power over the establishment, maintenance, and command of the police
department,” is comfortable with, and perhaps has even required, that those
details and amendments be ignored.
A healthy democracy depends on elected executives not
ignoring the legitimate decisions our duly elected legislators make, as well as
an adequately funded audit and oversight system to help maintain accountability
and transparency those executives and the departments they control.
Under the current government structure, the city council has
only a few tools to oversee the mayor and departments he or she manages, including
the police department. They can vote to not confirm or reconfirm a department
head, including the Chief of Police, although they no longer have any vote in
his or her dismissal. They can vote
against the labor contract that is negotiated and crafted by staff that all
report to the mayor. And, perhaps their most powerful tools, they can amend the
budget and use an effective auditor’s office to conduct, report and make public
investigations into the department’s practice.
This year, under this mayor, those tools are at risk of
being weakened again.
posted by Cam Gordon @ 11:49 AM
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