DiNapoli Releases Audit Of Empire State Development Corporation

The Empire State Development Corporation spent $211 million on an advertising contract to promote economic development and tourism in New York state with no tangible results.

That's according to an audit from State Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli's Office.

The contract included funding to promote the Start Up NY program.

DiNapoli says ESDC's attempts to measure the results of the advertising campaigns were weak at best, leaving real questions about whether the results justify the costs.

The purpose of DiNapoli's audit, which covered December 2011 to November 2014 was the determine is ESDC received the services it paid for and whether its advertising effort achieved sufficient outcomes.  Although auditors found that ESDC got the advertising services it paid for, at a fair price, they found ESDC was not able to effectively quantify and assess tangible outcomes from the initiatives.