A company moves into your community with the help of economic development incentives funded with your tax dollars.

Each year, the state awards about $11 billion to companies through government entities, including more than 100 industrial development agencies (IDAs). The reason they’re given this aid is because they promise to boost the local tax base, buy local goods, use local services and provide local employment, thereby helping improve the economies of the places in which they locate.

But while existing law requires companies to report certain employment information, it doesn’t go as far as letting the taxpayers know whether the employees hired actually live in the local community or live outside it, and it doesn’t let the public know how well those jobs are paying.

A new bill proposed in the Legislature and supported by good government groups would make that information available to the public.

In addition to holding companies accountable for creating local jobs with the taxpayer money they’re given, supporters of the legislation hope it will provide incentives to companies to hire employees from the community, since they will now be forced to disclose that information publicly.

Specifically, the bill (A10545/S9371) requires companies with 25 or more employees receiving aid to issue semi-annual reports that include the number of employees who reside in the ZIP code where the project is located, the number of employees who don’t reside in that ZIP code, the aggregate number of hours performed by the employees based inside and outside the ZIP code where the project is based; the actual average wage by occupation or job classification; and the total payroll created as a result of the benefits provided.

To ensure the privacy of the employees of these companies, the reports will not contain the name of any individual employees; their street address; specific wage, salary or compensation; or any similar personal information about any employee.

The reporting requirement is only to ensure the company is keeping its pledge to hire locally and to give the people statistical information about the number of jobs and average compensation.

This legislation is an important check on the allocation of tax dollars for economic development and a check on whether companies receiving that money are meeting their obligation to fill their jobs with local employees.

It’s a common-sense bill that supports your right to know, and lawmakers should pass it without delay.

© The Leader Herald