State auditors reported the Kansas Department of Commerce wasn’t fully complying with a five-year-old law mandating maintenance of a public database tracking more than 100 economic development incentive programs. The transparency database was conceived by the Kansas Legislature to offer a means of reviewing how hundreds of millions of dollars in incentives were handed out by state officials to city, county and businesses recipients. The statute authorizing the accessible, searchable and printable database limited the required disclosures to incentive awards valued at more than $50,000 per year. The Legislature’s auditing agency concluded the commerce department’s database didn’t include all economic development programs. In addition, auditors said, there were shortcomings in the database due to missing information on incentive programs and unreported details on recipients of incentives.
Source: Derby Informer | Area
