OSC finds improvements at EDA after 2019 audit

A report released this morning by the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) found significant improvements in the state Economic Development Authority (EDA)’s administration of tax incentive programs since a 2019 audit, though the report noted that more progress could be made.

According to OSC, the office’s original audit “found a lack of oversight and transparency with regard to how businesses were granted eligibility for tax incentives” at EDA, which is tasked with creating public-private partnerships in the state.

The audit made 21 recommendations for improvements; today’s report found that EDA fully or partially implemented 18 of the recommendations, and failed to implement the other three.

“New Jerseyans are entitled to a return on their investment with these tax incentive programs,” Acting State Comptroller Kevin Walsh said in a statement. “We are encouraged to see that positive reforms have taken place since OSC’s original audit and that EDA is verifying that employees whose positions were incentivized were actually employed by those businesses.”