SAO: Auditing the 313 Agreements. 6 Fixes for 313s.

Who doesn’t love an audit? Anyone being audited. In November 2014, the State Auditor Office identified problems and made recommendations. Fast forward to August 2015, and the private auditors hired by school districts to review 313s found the same problems.

Here’s what will be addressed in 2017, now that we have 2 audits that point to the same deficiencies:

• School districts need to verify information, not just take some entity’s word
• The 313 agreements need more specificity.
  • Detail the jobs are being created
  • Detail the tax breaks are being given
  • Detail when, if ever, the tax breaks can be transferred
• Consistency on the issurance of tax credits. 
  • Are the tax credits future credits?
  • Are the tax credits directly awarded to the business?
• Concistency in Conflicts of Interest disclosures
• If multiple 313 agreements exist for the same project, ensure that the jobs created are not double counted.
• Consistency in records retention

SAO