The county controller disagrees with a state mandate that he audit a checking account containing funds from seized cash and assets in drug cases, but the district attorney strongly disagrees with his colleague's ideas for the fund.

Ben Holland, county controller, said the district attorney controls a checking and savings account into which seized drug money and other assets related to drug activity are deposited.

Expenditures from the account, which now has a balance of about $83,000, must go toward the continued fight against drug activity in the county.

Holland said it is impossible for him to audit the account because the only financial records available are bank records as opposed to the issuance of a county check, which requires a proposal and at least four signatures to be written and sent.

He said the many steps and repeated vetting of expenditures are the reason fraud is more common on the township or borough level.

Holland stressed that he is not accusing District Attorney Richard Goldinger of any impropriety in spending the money, but feels he cannot audit an account that is not vetted like that of any county row office.

“This issue has been ongoing,” Holland said. “There has got to be a system of checks and balances and proper controls.”

He disagrees that the state's county controllers should be auditing funds that are not in the county budget, but in a separate account controlled by the district attorney.

“Wouldn't (the county) be responsible for it if something happens?” Holland said.

While the funds from seized assets must be used for specific purposes, Holland said there is no ledger of items and programs the money is spent on.

In the county row offices, like the prothonotary, clerk of courts, recorder of deeds and sheriff, each expenditure is documented.

“I think there needs to be better control,” he said.

He said most of his colleagues in the 66 other counties in Pennsylvania agree that the district attorney should be required to follow the county's procurement process.

“That's something that the state legislators did not follow through on,” Holland said of the changes to the section of Act 13 regarding the seized-asset accounts.

He indicated that he will consider not auditing the DA's account as required in the changes to the Act.

“I feel at this point that I don't want to put my signature on something that I'm not sure follows the program,” Holland said.

Knowing “someone is watching” the DA's expenditures would in itself go a long way toward preventing fraud, he said.

Goldinger has been very transparent in providing any documentation requested, Holland said, but Harrisburg has not given Goldinger the tools he needs to participate in a proper audit.

“Really, it's a discretionary fund, is how I look at it,” Holland said.

He thinks Goldinger should create an annual budget using the revenue and expenditures from the previous year.

But Goldinger strongly disagrees with Holland, and says the money in the accounts is not taxpayer dollars and need not go through the county system.

“It all goes back to law enforcement to assist in combating the drug problem,” Goldinger said. “It's used in a very effective manner.”

He said the money in the account is spent on officer training that sometimes costs $600 per officer, drug interdiction training, advertising the opioid hot line, bulletproof shields, structured drug buys and other items and programs.

“We use it for good reasons,” Goldinger said. “It's not like we're going to lunch on it.”

He said his office is audited by the state Attorney General's office and he has never had one finding or suggestion after submitting his information.

“(Holland) is trying to change something that has been in existence for many years,” Goldinger said.

He said involving the county in his expenditures would damage the ongoing war on drugs in Butler County.

“If we lost control of that money, it would go into a big pot and not be used in that manner and law enforcement is going to suffer,” Goldinger said, “and it would be more red tape.”

State Sen. Scott Hutchinson, R-21st, said shedding a brighter light on the DA's account would be a positive thing.

“Generally speaking, those funds are too secretive,” he said. “They are public funds and should be held to a high standard of transparency.”

He added that all county expenditures should be fully vetted regardless of their origin.

Leslie Osche, chairman of the county commissioners, said the commissioners ran into a similar situation where a row officer had an account containing a small amount of funds.

“The commissioners had control, so we were able to correct it,” she said. “In this instance, it would be the DA's account.”

Osche understands Holland's frustration regarding a mandate to audit such an account.

“I think we all would agree with Ben that he has no way to audit that,” she said.

She also thinks Goldinger is doing a good job in handling the account and making expenditures that fall within the state requirements.

“I have never heard anybody complain or share a concern about how that money is distributed,” she said.

Holland said he will continue to contact state legislators and discuss the issue at meetings of the State Association of County Controllers.

He anticipates the day when the county is in on the DA's seized-assets account.

“We're completely out of the loop,” Holland said.