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Public hearing Tuesday on LAB’s WEDC audit highlighted similar concerns to two prior reports.

MADISON – The Joint Legislative Audit Committee (“Audit Committee”) held a public hearing Tuesday on the results of the nonpartisan Legislative Audit Bureau (LAB)’s audit of the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (report 17-9).

State Representatives Melissa Sargent (D-Madison) and Terese Berceau (D-Madison), members of the Audit Committee, expressed concern about the audit results and the WEDC’s continued trouble executing contracts, verifying job numbers, and complying with state statutes.

“If it feels like déjà vu to Wisconsin taxpayers, that’s because it is,” said Berceau. “WEDC should be able to account for what they’ve done with the dollars they’ve been given, but they aren’t able to, and they’ve been asked to on three separate occasions. We still have an agency that can’t tell taxpayers what they’re getting for their investment.”

The LAB’s 2017 WEDC audit reviewed Tuesday was the third audit since WEDC’s inception in 2011. The 17-9 report highlighted the WEDC’s inability to substantiate job creation and retention claims or effectively execute contracts pursuant to Wisconsin law, and failure to comply with statutory requirements for tax credit recipients to verify job creation and retention numbers.