Auditor General DePasquale follows up on Department of Community and Economic Development audit

Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said Tuesday that the Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) has made improvements in accounting for taxpayer dollars spent on job-creation programs.

DePasquale noted the improvements after following up on his 2014 performance audit of DCED, which made 13 recommendations to provide an increased level of accountability, transparency, and oversight in the state’s job-creation incentive programs.

“Pennsylvania taxpayers want to know if they’re getting a good return on the state’s investments in creating jobs,” DePasquale said. “To me, that’s the bottom line: if you receive taxpayer funds, you’d better do what you’ve promised to do.”

DePasquale noted that most of the recommendations had been adopted, including the recommendation to hold businesses accountable for creating and/or retaining the number of jobs pledged.

DCED provided DePasquale with two examples of companies that were penalized and forced to repay the money they received. $150,000 in Pennsylvania First grant funding was recaptured from CEVA Logistics in 2017 after the company closed a project site in Carlisle, Cumberland County. $200,000 in Pennsylvania First grant funding was recaptured from Kraft Foods Group in 2016 after the company closed a project site in Upper Macungie Township, Lehigh County.

DePasquale is currently conducting a performance audit of the state’s workforce development system to determine the effectiveness of programs of five state agencies to prepare workers to fill in-demand jobs.