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Audit Finds More Transparency Needed For Oregon's Economic Incentives

File photo of the ''Oregon Pioneer'' sculpture that sits atop the Oregon State Capitol in Salem.
Chris Lehman
/
Northwest News Network
File photo of the ''Oregon Pioneer'' sculpture that sits atop the Oregon State Capitol in Salem.

Oregon's agency devoted to economic development should provide more transparency about how its incentives are being used. That's one of the findings of an audit of Business Oregon released Monday by the Oregon Secretary of State's office.

Business Oregon is charged with shaping the state's economic development strategy. It also helps divvy up hundreds of millions of dollars in financial incentives, mostly in the form of property tax exemptions made possible by state law.

The audit said those programs are, on the whole, responsible for creating jobs. But auditors said the agency does not routinely evaluate and document the return on investment of those programs.

In a response, Business Oregon Director Chris Harder said the agency is taking steps to improve transparency. But Harder disagreed with the audit's conclusion that job creation and income tax paid by new employees are the only ways to measure the success of an economic incentive program.

Copyright 2016 Northwest News Network

Chris Lehman
Chris Lehman graduated from Temple University with a journalism degree in 1997. He landed his first job less than a month later, producing arts stories for Red River Public Radio in Shreveport, Louisiana. Three years later he headed north to DeKalb, Illinois, where he worked as a reporter and announcer for NPR–affiliate WNIJ–FM. In 2006 he headed west to become the Salem Correspondent for the Northwest News Network.