Pocono News Section

State Study Slames KOZs

State Study Slames KOZs - Wednesday, July 22, 2009 at 5:07PM EST

Reported by: Kyla Campbell
Wednesday, Jul 22, 2009 @ 05:07pm EST

A study completed by the Pennsylvania's legislative budget and finance committee shows the Keystone Opportunity Zone (KOZ) program run by the Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED) is unstable.

"There's no valid evidence that they're successful," said Scranton School Director, Chris Phillips, who recently voted with the majority of the Scranton school board to deny extensions on some KOZs. He says the recently released study on the program backs the board's decision. "My first impressions was I felt vindicated."

The main criticism of KOZs include poor record-keeping. It says the DCED is not keeping accurate data on job creation -- that figures are substantially overstated.

The study shows KOZ officials can't provide a dollar figure for how much money was given in local and state tax breaks. It also says records kept don't give an accurate number for how many businesses are participating in the KOZ program.

"You're getting statistics that KOZs are great, KOZs are wonderful, KOZs work. But there's no evidence to back it up," added Philips.

The DCED acknowledges there needs to be an increase in the accountability with the KOZ program. A program manager has since been put in place. And they're forcing businesses applying for KOZs and extensions to meet proper criteria.