MN fraud

Property taxes primarily fund local government services, with the largest portion typically going to public school districts (40 to 42%). These taxes support essential services, including police and fire departments, road maintenance, public libraries, parks, and sanitation. They also fund local infrastructure, community development, and administrative costs for county and municipal governments. The key phrase is community development. Ramsey County in MN collects $428 million in property taxes and they are asking for a 9% increase for this year. A citizens group using freedom of information ask for the expenditures on community development projects and found the county spent $34 million on 213 NGO’s. Some examples are Catholic charities, Regions hospital, Model Cities of St Paul and American Indian Family Center. The county was then asked how were these accounts audited and was told the state did that but when the state was contacted, they denied doing any audits saying that was the counties responsibility. This means that $34 million is being handed out to 213 organizations and there is no follow up to find out how the money is being spent. This is seen by many as an invitation to fraud. MN is currently being investigated for Medicaid fraud and brings up the question as to how these agencies are being audited.