Study: Big Cities and Counties Fail to Disclose Costly Job Subsidies

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May 30, 2013, 09:00 ET

WASHINGTON, May 30, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Two-thirds of the economic development subsidy programs run by the nation's largest cities and counties do not use the web to report which companies are receiving the tax breaks and other forms of financial assistance. Among the third of programs that do practice online transparency, most do so poorly, failing to disclose the dollar value of the subsidies. An even smaller number reveal key outcomes such as how many jobs were created.

These are the central findings of a report released today by Good Jobs First, a Washington, DC-based non-profit research center on economic development accountability. The report, Show Us the Local Subsidies, is available at www.goodjobsfirst.org/localsubsidies.

"While a handful of cities enable taxpayers to see the costs and benefits of every deal, we were disappointed by the poor state of transparency in most major localities," said Leigh McIlvaine, a research analyst at Good Jobs First and principal author of the report. "Taxpayers in those cities and counties deserve better."

The report is part of an ongoing effort by Good Jobs First to track and promote online transparency of subsidies. "Most major localities are far behind state governments when it comes to job-subsidy transparency," said Good Jobs First executive director Greg LeRoy. "We hope our new report will inspire them to improve their disclosure practices."

Show Us the Local Subsidies looks at transparency in the country's 25 most populous cities and 25 most populous counties. Thirty-six of those localities have locally-controlled subsidy programs. One or two major programs in each were graded for a total universe of 64. Key findings:

Among those 64 programs, only 21 (in 16 jurisdictions) report recipient company names online.
Among those programs that do disclose, costs and benefits are mostly still missing. Only 10 of the 21 programs report the dollar value of the subsidies initially awarded, and only 6 report actual disbursements. Only 4 programs report jobs actually created, and only 9 report other outcomes such as wages.
The best disclosure practices are in: Memphis/Shelby County, Tennessee; New York City; Austin, Texas; and Chicago.
Among the 20 large localities still failing to disclose are Broward County (Florida), Charlotte, Cook County (Illinois), Dallas, Harris County (Texas), Los Angeles (both city and county), Miami-Dade County (Florida), Philadelphia, and San Francisco.