Head of WEDC Says More Time is Needed to Prove Worth
Thursday, July 18th, 2013 -- 9:17 AM
-The head of Wisconsin's flagship jobs agency said Wednesday it needs more time to prove its worth to taxpayers and the unemployed.Reed Hall, the chief executive officer of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp., was brought on to fix an agency that had been criticized for poor financial reporting and oversight. In February, he was given a roughly 50% raise.
Hall, the Marshfield Clinic's retired executive director, said he's been working to respond to a May audit that found WEDC didn't require financial statements from companies receiving incentives; gave awards to ineligible businesses and projects; and awarded nearly $1 million in tax credits to companies for actions taken before they had signed their contracts with the state.
Hall said it was too early to return to the Department of Commerce, a state agency that WEDC, a quasi-public authority, replaced in July 2011.
Hall said he'll work with other state agencies as well as local and regional economic development groups to nurture Wisconsin's businesses, encourage new start-up firms and recruit other companies, particularly from the Twin Cities and northern Illinois.
He said he would seek additional taxpayer money for those efforts by going to the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee with the steps WEDC is taking to tighten its financial controls, including more than 100 new policies being brought to the WEDC board.
But Democrats have been skeptical of WEDC and persistent about pointing out its shortcomings.
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