Section 2260 - Fiscal administration; accounts and audits(a) The commissioners of each county and the county treasurer shall keep accurate accounts of the moneys of the institution district. In the case of institution districts in counties having no county controller such accounts shall be audited by the county auditors. The commissioners and the treasurer, as officers of the institution district, shall be subject to the same fiscal supervision and control as are provided by law with respect to county funds.(b) Subject to the power and duty of the county commissioners to manage and administer the fiscal affairs of the institution district in counties having a county controller, the county controller shall have general supervision and control of the fiscal affairs of the institution district and of the accounts and official acts of all officers or other persons who shall collect, receive or distribute the public moneys of the district or who shall be charged with the management or custody thereof. In counties of the third to eighth classes, the discretionary powers of the controller shall not be applicable to the management of the fiscal policies of the commissioners or to matters not involving the accounts and transactions of officers or other persons in the district, but he shall refuse to authorize any fiscal transaction which is by law subject to his supervision and control where it appears that such transaction is not authorized by law or has not been undertaken according to law or has not received approval according to law, or as to which he desires upon reasonable grounds to investigate for or has already discovered any fraud, flagrant abuse of public office or any criminal act or neglect of any officer or other person of the district relating to their public accounts and transactions. In all counties the controller may at any time require from any of them in writing an account of all moneys or property which may have come into their control. He shall immediately on the discovery of any default or delinquency report the same to the commissioners who shall immediately take action to recover the money, and to the district attorney for such prosecution as may be warranted, and shall take immediate measures to secure the public moneys or property.(c) The controller shall furnish the commissioners of the county whenever required by them a detailed account of any officer or other person having in his possession or under his control funds belonging to the institution district and shall between the hours of ten o'clock antemeridian and two o'clock postmeridian give information respecting any of said accounts to any taxpayer of the county demanding the same. He shall have power and authority to require each and every county officer to make a quarterly statement with respect to moneys in his possession or control as an institution district officer showing the amount of cash on hand and the amount deposited in banks, banking institutions and trust companies, together with the names of such institutions. He shall have power to examine every such account of an institution district officer in any bank, banking institution or trust company to verify the accuracy of the statement of such officer, and it shall be the duty of every such bank, banking institution or trust company, its officers and agents, to furnish full information to the controller in relation to such account of such officer. No bank, banking institution or trust company, its officers or agents shall be subject to prosecution under other laws of this Commonwealth for disclosing any such information with respect to any account of an institution district officer.
(d) The county controller shall have the custody of all title deeds to real estate owned by the district and of all contracts entered into by or on behalf of the district and of all books, documents and papers relating to its financial affairs and of all bonds and other obligations issued by said district when paid. Such bonds and other obligations when so paid shall be distinctly cancelled by the controller and carefully and regularly filed, a register of which cancellation shall be kept by him in a book to be provided for that purpose.(e) The controller shall keep a full and regular set of books in detail by double entry of all the fiscal operations of the institution district, embracing as many accounts under appropriate titles as may be necessary to show distinctly and separately all the property of the district, its receipts and expenditures, and all debts and accounts due by the officers of the district or others, and amount raised from each source of revenue, and the expenditures in detail and classified by reference to the objects thereof. He shall prescribe the form and manner of keeping the books and papers used by each of the officers of the district in connection with the fiscal affairs of the district. Where the controller prescribed a new system of accounting as to the fiscal affairs of the district offices, it shall be subject to the approval of the commissioners.(f) He shall within ninety days after the close of the fiscal year make a report verified by oath or affirmation to the court of common pleas of the county of all receipts and expenditures of the institution district for the preceding year in detail and classified as required in the preceding section of this act, together with a full statement of the financial conditions of the district. Such report shall thereupon be published one time in such newspapers published in the county as the controller may direct, the aggregate cost of which shall not exceed five hundred dollars in any one year to be paid for out of the funds of the institution district. The report may also be published in printed pamphlets at the cost of the district, the number and cost thereof to be determined by the controller and the county commissioners. Such report may be published in conjunction with, and as a part of, the similar report of the fiscal affairs of counties.(g) The county treasurer as treasurer of the institution district shall receive all moneys due or accruing to the institution district. He shall keep a just and true account of all moneys received and disbursed. The books of the treasurer shall at all times during office hours be open to the inspection of the county controller. He shall report daily to the controller all moneys received by him for the district, the person by whom and on what account they were paid. The treasurer shall give his receipt for all moneys paid into the treasury of the institution district. Such receipts shall be countersigned by the controller who shall keep an accurate record of the same.(h) The controller shall scrutinize, audit and decide on all bills, claims and demands whatsoever against the institution districts. All persons having such claims shall first present the same to the controller and if required make oath or affirmation before him to the correctness thereof. The controller may if he deems it necessary require evidence by oath or affirmation of the claimant and otherwise that the claim is legally due and that the supplies or services for which payment is claimed have been furnished or performed under legal authority. He may inquire or ascertain whether any officer or agent of the district is interested in the contract under which any claim may arise or has received or is to receive any commission, consideration or gratuity relating thereto, or whether there has been any evasion of the law by making two or more contracts for small amounts which should have been in one. If he shall find that there has been any evasion or that any such officer or agent is so interested he shall refuse to approve the claim. In counties of the second class all claims which he shall find legally due he shall certify to the commissioners. The commissioners in such counties shall draw no warrant on the treasury for any debt, claim or demand whatsoever not audited and approved by the controller as provided for in this section.(i) In counties of the second and second A class all warrants drawn on the treasury of the institution district by the commissioners shall be countersigned by the controller who shall keep a correct register thereof noting the number, date and amount of each, the date of payment and to whom and for what issued. The controller shall report to commissioners monthly, or oftener if required by them, the amount of outstanding warrant registered and the amount of money in the treasury. The treasurer shall pay no money out of the treasury of the institution district except on warrants drawn by a majority of the commissioners and countersigned by the controller. He shall cancel all warrants when paid by distinctly spearing or cutting them and shall deliver such warrants to the controller who shall also cancel the same. He shall report daily to the controller all moneys paid out by him, giving the number of the warrant and the party to whom paid. All outstanding warrants issued before the controller enters upon the duties of his office shall be presented to him as other claims against the district.(j) In counties of the third to eighth classes, the auditors shall audit, settle and adjust the accounts of all institution district officers, and make an annual report thereof, on or before the first Monday of March, to the court of common pleas, unless upon due cause shown the court shall grant an extension of time therefor. Said report shall be in detail, showing distinctly and separately all receipts and expenditures of the several offices, and all debts and accounts due, and the amount raised from each source of revenue, and the expenditures in detail and classified by reference to the object thereof, together with a full statement of the financial conditions of the institution district, and a statement of the balance due from or to such officers. The auditors' report shall be prepared and placed in the printer's hands for publication within ten days after being filed in the court of common pleas, and shall be published once in such newspapers published in said county as the commissioners direct. The expense of the publication of said report shall be paid by the institution district.
1937, June 24, P.L. 2017, art. III, § 310, effective 1/1/1938. Amended 1941, July 3, P.L. 256, § 1; 1955, Oct. 7, P.L. 662, § 4; 1967, Dec. 14, P.L. 825, No. 354, § 3, eff. Jan. 1, 1969; 1967, Dec. 14, P.L. 857, No. 379, § 1.