Brittney Marschall
Communications Projects Lead
Olmsted County
Rochester
Minnesota
Annual Report
2021 Olmsted County Budget in Brief
Olmsted County
Brittney Marschall
Debra Ehret Miller, Olmsted County Director of Policy, Analysis, and Communications
Anita Greden, Olmsted County Assistant Controller, Finance
Gretchen Williamson, Olmsted County Communications Coordinator

The 2021 Olmsted County Budget in Brief document was created to provide our county’s 2021 budget information in a way that is accessible and easy to understand. Included in the Budget in Brief are revenues and expenditures, information about departmental budgets, and examples about how these dollars will be used to benefit our community.

To promote the availability of the Budget in Brief, we distributed communications on December 17, 2020. This involved an employee email and intranet article posting, a press release, article on our public website, distribution through our GovDelivery email subscription service, and postings on social media.
The target audience for this document is broad and includes county employees and residents/taxpayers of Olmsted County.
Employees: Information about our Budget in Brief was shared via email and as an intranet site article which resulted in 139 page views.

Public website: Budget in Brief received 58 views.

Social media: Two graphics, linking to our budget materials, generated 2,444 organic impressions, 97 engagements and 30 link clicks.

Local newspaper: The Post Bulletin printed a story which linked to our Budget in Brief. Post Bulletin’s total circulation (print and online) is nearly 18,300. The online story had 59 page views; unable to determine how many people read the print version.
We are proud of our Budget in Brief for many reasons. Our 4-person team supports the communications needs (internal, external, media relations, digital, social media, community engagement, and some graphic design) of 20 departments. We have many conflicting priorities, yet we consistently meet the communications needs of our business partners and community. This project was done on time, with a small team, and a small budget.

This document:
Increases transparency of government operations.
Illustrates our value by sharing how funds are used for community betterment.
Demonstrates collaboration. Its success is partially due to our fantastic working relationships within the county.
The Olmsted County communications team has been in place for approximately two years. In that short time, we have implemented a number of enhancements to build our county’s brand presence and better promote the work of our county both internally and externally. This Budget in Brief beautifully encapsulates these efforts.
https://www.olmstedcounty.gov/government/county-departments/finance/budgets-and-statements