Still Under Fire, WEDC Says It’s Ready To Adjust

The Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) came under fire again today by the legislature’s Joint Audit Committee.

But WEDC Secretary Reed Hall says his agency is ready for the legislature to hold it more accountable for the tax dollars it spends on job creation.

At the hearing, the state auditor read off a list of six statute violations the WEDC has committed over the past year including reporting inaccurate job creation numbers. Rep. Melissa Sargent (D-Madison) asked auditor Joe Chrisman about the return on the over $80 million WEDC spent last year. The audit found 3,600 jobs were retained or created as result of that expenditure.

“If I do the math we spent roughly spent $39,880.36 cents per job created? Is that correct?”

“We did not do the cost per job analysis.”

“It’s pretty simple math. That’s stunning to me. We’ve got work to do.”

But Reed Hall takes issues with those numbers. He told the committee the agency created 24,000 jobs. That includes 19,000 anticipated jobs.

“You have to understand the jobs we create and the contracts we enter into require companies to recruit over time – sometimes five years. If we have a contract and a grant this year, the commitment from the company may not come to fruition for five years down the road.”

But Hall says the agency is ready to comply with the audit board’s recommendations to revamp its reporting procedures by October. Meanwhile legislators are working on a package of reforms that will give the WEDC board more oversight power and potentially appoint a new chairman of that board. The current chairman is Governor Scott Walker.