On Thursday, one more key jobs program run by Gov. Cuomo’s administration came under fire – this time by Thomas DiNapoli (State Controller).
DiNapoli ripped the Cuomo administration’s handling of the Excelsior Jobs Program in a scorching audit, saying officials botched to verify that companies receiving tax breaks were entitled to take part in the program and in fact created the jobs they vowed to create.
In addition, DiNapoli’s audit also blamed the ESD (Empire State Development Corporation) for overseeing the program, for a ‘considerably less than forthcoming’ response to the probe and indicted officials of lowering of some job creation goals ‘after the fact’ in order to justify the tax breaks.
DiNapoli further stated that “Empire State Development Corporation needs to stop lowering the bar and giving companies a pass when they fall short of promises, adding that oversight of the multi million dollar program ‘leaves a lot to be preferred.’”
As per the DiNapoli’s audit, Cuomo’s seriously promoted Start-Up NY program, followed a report last week which offers tax free zones for companies on university campuses and other sites, had created just 408 jobs in its initial 2 years.
Cuomo administration officials darned DiNapoli’s audit as an ‘inaccurate and flawed report.’
ESD spokesman Jason Conwall said, “The reporting requirements to this agency, plus to the Department of Labor, are precise and companies have to exhibit to ESD that they met their job commitments before any credits are issued.”
“To be clear: auditors did not find a single case where incentives were improperly offered,” Conwall added.
The Excelsior program has awarded more than $548 million in tax credits since its conception in 2010 to nearly 400 businesses that pledged to generate and maintain a certain amount of jobs or make significant capital improvements.
25 companies were reviewed by DiNapoli’s auditors that received $4.84 million in tax credits and found that in most cases state officials could not properly manuscript that job creation or investment benchmarks were met.
Officials lowered the benchmarks for 4 companies, auditors found.
“Empire State Development Corporation needs to make sure these businesses are not taking advantage of state taxpayers,” DiNapoli added.