From Carolina Journal’s Barry Smith comes the story of little accountability by the state for funds appropriated to create jobs.
The report released Monday by state Auditor Beth Wood cited the Job Development Investment Grant (JDIG) program for not independently verifying that jobs were created, for not presenting all potential projects to the Economic Investment Committee charged with making the grants, and for not providing measurable criteria for determining grant award amounts.
Wood said that the Commerce Department hadn’t verified that new jobs were actually created in North Carolina, not just transferred from one company’s North Carolina operation to another in-state plant.
“You can’t transfer jobs from one location to another in North Carolina and that job count as an eligible position for JDIG money,” Wood said.
Wood said that state government allowed companies to self-report.
This is akin to paying for a tutor to help your child learn calculus, but then never bothering to review homework or look at test results.
