Minn. Stat. § 6.61

Subject to the provisions of Laws 1939, chapter 431, the state auditor shall have and exercise all the rights, powers, and duties conferred upon the former public examiner by Mason's Minnesota Statutes of 1927, sections 3274, 3275, 3276, 3277, 3279, 3280, 3281, 3282, 3283, 3284, and 3286, and the 1938 Supplement to Mason's Minnesota Statutes of 1927, sections 3278, 3286-1, 3286-2, 3286-3, 3286-4, 3286-5, 3286-6, and 3286-7, and acts amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto, and all the provisions thereof shall apply to and govern all matters therein specified respecting the Office and Department of the State Auditor, except that any limitations therein contained as to the number of employees to be appointed by the state auditor shall not apply. The state auditor shall account separately for all of the charges, receipts, and disbursements of the Department of the State Auditor pertaining to the examining and auditing of all school districts, towns and cities for which charges are made, and after allocating to the expense thereof a proper pro rata share of the administrative expense, such functions of the Department of the State Auditor shall be sustained, so far as practicable, by the funds collected therefor from such political subdivisions as otherwise provided by law.