As state lawmakers

look at how taxpayer money is being spent, a focus is put on the Orlando Economic Development Commission.

TALLAHASSEE — The Orlando Economic Development Commission last year spent $13,000 on a holiday party, more than $150,000 on travel expenses and it pays its top executive more than $500,000 in salary, bonuses and benefits.

Those numbers were revealed Monday as part of House Speaker Richard Corcoran’s crusade to scrutinize taxpayer money spent by public-private economic development groups. In January, Corcoran, R-Land O’Lakes, asked for financial data from all economic development commissions and tourist development councils in large cities throughout the state.

Documents provided by the Orlando EDC show it paid more than $11,500 for food and drinks and more than $1,000 for invitations and postage for the party.

In 2014 its then-CEO, Rick Weddle, earned a salary of $372,000, received a bonus of $75,000 and took in more than $80,000 in retirement and other benefits. Weddle left last year and was replaced by Tim Giuliani in January. EDC employees also spent more than $63,000 traveling to trade shows and sales missions to places such as San Francisco, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Austin, Texas.

The party was paid for with private donations, according to a spokeswoman from the EDC, and its salary compensation and travel spending is in line with similar EDCs around the state, according to a third-party consultant.

The Orlando EDC is a publicprivate group that received $6.4 million in revenues last year, with more than half, $3.8 million, coming from the private sector. Its donors include the Orlando Sentinel. The rest came from local governments, including $1.1 million from Orange County. Nevertheless, Corcoran said he’s concerned about spending by all entities that receive taxpayer money and has pledged to scrutinize it all.

It recently merged with the Central Florida Partnership to become the Orlando Economic Partnership.

“We will continue to fight for the taxpayers, and we don’t care if that battle takes place in committee rooms or courtrooms,” Corcoran said last week in his speech opening the legislative session.

A spokesman for Corcoran said House committees will begin reviewing the data from the EDCs and tourism development councils in the coming weeks.

In its response to Corcoran, the Orlando EDC said it brought in economic development projects that added 5,646 jobs and $197.3 million in capital investments last year.

“Our role was critical in those projects as facilitators of incentive negotiations, workforce solutions, permitting, real estate evaluations, and community introductions,” Orlando EDC spokeswoman Laureen Martinez stated in an email.

Dale Brill is a consultant and former regulator of Enterprise Florida, the state’s main economic development group that uses tax incentives to recruit businesses to add jobs in the state. He said local economic development groups can supplement the work of Enterprise Florida by adding more in-depth local knowledge.

“They’re important because they’re the extended sales force, the eyes and ears of the centralized Enterprise Florida,” Brill said.

Corcoran’s data roundup is part of his larger mission taking aim at the state’s economic development agencies. The House passed bills last week to eliminate Enterprise Florida and several other incentive programs, and to impose strict oversight measures on Visit Florida, the state’s tourism marketing group.

The bills have angered Gov. Rick Scott, who has prized the agencies as major job creation engines. He’s sniped at fellow Republicans and toured the state bashing them and Corcoran for “not caring about jobs.”

The Orlando EDC doesn’t give direct incentives to companies, as that comes from the state and local governments. But local government incentives have been trending downward in recent years, making them more reliant on state incentive payments for projects.

In 2011, local government incentives totaled nearly $145 million. In 2015, the total was $65.1 million.