KSTC: ICCs Got a Loose Belt

In this era of state government "belt tightening" we were interested to find that the ICC program, funded by DCI and managed by KSTC, has seen its operational funding increased by 36% from FY '05-06. (NOTE: We are using FY '05-06 as the benchmark because that year's contract is available publicly).

In FY '05-06, KSTC was awarded a sole-source contract from DCI for $1.4 million.

The FY '08-09 & the FY '09-10 sole-source contracts were for $2,194,500 each year - a total of $4,389,000 over the budget biennium. That represents a 36% increase in each year from the FY '05-06 allocation.

Our review of the publicly available documents has yet to uncover any suggestion that this program has been required to reduce these expenditures as the vast majority of state agencies have been required to do. Along with that, for all the money we're throwing (and have thrown) at these "incubators" - best we can tell, Kentucky taxpayers have never (and likely are not to this day) getting much in the way of return - jobs, start ups, economic growth, etc.