The negative impact Butler County and its taxpayers will face as the result of the loss of a $400,000 federal Arrest Grant should provide the incentive for all county departments that apply for federal and state money to beef up their applications preparation.

What happened with the Arrest Grant should never happen again — with any future grants of that kind, nor any other grants being sought.

The $400,000 Arrest money was lost because the county — specifically, the District Attorney’s Office — made the inexcusable mistake of not submitting the application in time.

There wouldn’t have been a problem if a policy were in place requiring that applications be completed, say, three to five days prior to the actual application deadline.

Having an artificial deadline would provide ample time to resolve any last-minute problems or changes that needed to be made to the application — and still get it to the proper federal or state agency in advance of the actual deadline.

Regardless of what local officials with ties to the lost grant are saying, it was the lack of a fail-safe procedure that caused the loss of the $400,000.

County taxpayers should be unhappy about the fact that local tax dollars will be allocated from the county’s budget to pay the $34.65-an-hour salary of an assistant district attorney usually paid from part of the now-lost grant. The grant had funded 90 percent of that salary.

Meanwhile, the Victim Outreach Intervention Center (VOICe) faces an unwanted fiscal difficulty, since approximately $125,000 of the $400,000 grant had funded VOICe services.

From what has been reported in Butler Eagle articles about the botched grant-application submission, it’s clear that an artificial deadline days in advance of the actual one would have guaranteed an on-time application. Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly should be lobbying in Washington on behalf of reconsideration of the lost-grant rejection.

In the county’s favor is the fact that it took action against the employee who was accused of being responsible for the missed deadline. However, District Attorney Richard Goldinger and VOICe executive director Robert Marchese cannot escape sharing some responsibility for the late application.

Because the buck stops with Goldinger — the application was being filed from his office — he should have been more on top of the situation prior to the deadline.

However, VOICe could have been more prompt in tying together its loose ends regarding the grant.

In an article in the Nov. 15 Butler Eagle, Marchese was quoted as saying, “Our grant work was completed, reviewed and proc-essed to the D.A.’s Office early in the morning of the due date, long before the deadline of midnight.” But VOICe should not be tying up loose ends at the last minute when there must have been ample time to complete its application work much sooner.

Butler County and its taxpayers received an unfortunate message from this serious blunder — that they’ll be paying for what shouldn’t have occurred. Such a gaffe should never happen again.

All county departments seeking state and federal money should be made to adhere to an artificial application deadline so no money is lost in the future.