From the Indianapolis Star:
Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller and several lawmakers say Indiana needs to require more accountability over how public grants from casino revenues are spent.
The state officials were responding to an Indianapolis Star investigation over the weekend that examined a Lawrenceburg grant program for economic development throughout southeastern Indiana. It revealed little government oversight for how grants from the $10 million-a-year program are handed out or spent— and virtually no public reckoning for companies that fail to keep the promises they make to win the grants.
The legislature has taken some steps in recent years to require more disclosure. But, Zoeller said, more needs to be done.
“The quick answer to ‘Is there enough transparency?’ is an absolute no,” Zoeller said.
He called the current disclosure requirements, including changes enacted in the legislative session that ended in April, a “half loaf.”
Now, Zoeller said, the state should look at getting what he called “the whole loaf” — accountability to go along with the transparency.
That, he said, may mean thorough audits, with those who misuse funds or don’t have the receipts to show money was properly spent having to repay it.
Local officials, including in Lawrenceburg, can point to numerous projects that have improved jobs and life in the often struggling communities where riverboat casinos are located. But the Star also found numerous problems, from potential conflicts of interest for public officials personally benefiting from the grants to little accounting for millions of dollars of expenditures.
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“It’s a startling to see what occurred,” said Sen. Jim Banks, R-Columbia City. “The public should be not only fully aware of how their dollars are spent, but there should be a better mechanism to make sure those dollars are spent in the public’s interest.”
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See the full article here:
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013305210072
