For Immediate Release March 16, 2007
Contact: Greg LeRoy, Good Jobs First, 202-232-1616 extension 211 and Rachel Weber, University of Illinois at Chicago, Dept. of Urban Planning and Policy, 312-355-0307

"THE IDEAL DEAL"
NEW HANDBOOK GIVES LOCAL GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS
SMART TOOLS FOR BETTER DEALS

Chicago and Washington -- Local governments can write more effective contracts to improve the odds that companies receiving economic development incentives keep their promises to create good jobs and other community benefits - or pay taxpayers back.

That's the message from "The Ideal Deal: How Local Governments Can Get More for Their Economic Development Dollar," a new handbook released today by Good Jobs First and the Center for Urban Economic Development (CUED) at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

The handbook is co-authored by Dr. Rachel Weber, Associate Professor in the Urban Planning and Policy Program at the University of Illinois at Chicago and attorney David A. Santacroce, Clinical Professor with the University of Michigan Clinical Law Program. Weber has extensive experience surveying localities and writing about best incentive-deal practices; Santacroce has litigated and written about legal remedies for failed incentive deals.

"We are pleased to share best practices we have culled from local development officials," said Weber. "Everyone benefits when deals are clearly defined - taxpayers, communities and employers alike."

"No one likes to spend too much on a deal, and no one wants to sue if a deal doesn't pan out," said Santacroce. "Deliberate procedures and thorough contracts minimize the odds that problems will develop."

The report takes local economic development practitioners step-by-step through the different elements of contracts that treat public incentive packages as a quid pro quo for public benefits. Each section discusses a different element of the ideal deal: valuation of public costs and benefits, performance standards, disclosure and oversight, and enforcement.  The report is freely available at www.goodjobsfirst.org/pdf/idealdeal.pdf

Good Jobs First is a non-profit resource center promoting best practices in state and local economic development. Its founder Greg LeRoy wrote the first book on accountability safeguards, No More Candy Store, in 1994.

CUED is a research center focused on urban economic uneveness and its implications for low-income and minority communities. It offers scholarship on immigration and labor, community economic development, contingent work, labor market trends and employment policy, workforce development, and neighborhood indicators.

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