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Audit Objective

Determine whether the Herkimer County Industrial Development Agency (HCIDA) Board and officials properly approved and monitored projects.

Key Findings

The Board and officials did not properly approve and monitor projects. Therefore, the Board could not effectively evaluate projects or hold project owners accountable.

• The Board did not verify applicants’ project information or complete cost-benefit analyses (CBAs) before approving projects.
• The Board and officials did not obtain information to monitor capital investment and salaries and did not have an adequate process to verify job creation and retention.
• The Board and officials did not adequately monitor sales tax exemptions claimed by project owners. One project exceeded its authorized exemption amount by $6,155, and the Board and officials were unaware that two other projects had reported inaccurate sales tax exemptions.

Key Recommendations

• Ensure project application information is supported by adequate documentation and complete CBAs before approving projects.
• Recapture sales tax exemption benefits that exceed amounts authorized.

HCIDA officials generally agreed with our recommendations and indicated they plan to initiate corrective action. Appendix D includes our comment on an issue raised in HCIDA’s response.