October 15, 2014      5:08 PM
Perry staff is grilled about Enterprise Fund audit
“Frankly I have a lot more issues about the portrayal of what the audit said than what the actual audit said.”
A House select committee on economic incentives appears
poised to recommend the state consolidate and evaluate all incentives after a
tense exchange this morning with Gov.
Rick Perry’s current head of the Texas Enterprise Fund.
If the legislature agrees, it would follow nine other states
that have passed bills to determine whether millions of state dollars handed
over to private business delivered the right “bang for the buck.” Wednesday morning,
Perry staffer Jonathan Taylor faced
a committee that was, in turns, frustrated and baffled by Taylor’s assurances
the Texas Enterprise Fund was both straightforward and transparent.
Taylor, director of the governor’s Economic Development and Tourism
Division, asked the committee to maintain flexibility over the fund,
even as a recent State
Auditor’s report
noted a lack of internal controls and spotty recordkeeping in both early
applications and later contracts. In opening comments, Taylor said he had more
problems with the portrayal of the audit than its actual contents.
“The big stuff, the audit answered,” Taylor said, noting the
audit found funds were disbursed in accordance with the law, with compliance
and oversight. “Frankly I have a lot more issues about the portrayal of what
the audit said than what the actual audit said. I think some of the criticism
over the audit wasn’t the audit, especially not in the detail of the audit.”
By Kimberly Reeves
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