KRISTA B. ROGERS, CONTROLLER 

Office Location:
Third Street Plaza
33 West Third St., 3rd Floor  
Williamsport, PA 17701 

Mailing Address:
Controller's Office 
48 West Third St.  
Williamsport, PA 17701 
  
Phone:  570-327-2300  
Fax:      570-327-2446 
Email:  krogers@lyco.org   

  NICKI S. GOTTSCHALL, DEPUTY CONTROLLER   

Phone:  570-327-2298 
Email:  nbrelsford@lyco.org

The mission statement of the Lycoming County Controller's Office is "to ensure the county's financial intergrity and to promote effcient, effective, and accountable government.  The office stives to be a model for good government and to make the County a better place."

 

The Controller's Office is responsible for auditing the departments of the county, processing of accounts payable, processing of payroll, management of the general ledger, contract management and the supervision and administration of the day to day operations of the County's retirement plan.

 

Pennsylvania County Code, Section 1702 and 1705 – “Functions of the Controller – Subject to the power and duty of the county commissioners to manage and administer the fiscal affairs of the county, the controller shall supervise the fiscal affairs of the county including the related accounts and official acts of all officers or other persons who shall collect, receive, hold or disburse, or be charged with the management or custody of, the public assets of the county. The discretionary powers of the controller shall be applicable to matters or official acts involving the accounts and transactions of officers or other persons of the county. The controller shall maintain a full and regular set of financial records, including the general ledger, in electronic form or otherwise, which support financial statement in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles of all the fiscal operations of the county, embracing as many accounts, under appropriate titles, as may be necessary to meet Federal and State reporting requirements and to show distinctly and separately all the property of the county, its revenue and expenditures, and all debts and accounts due by the county officers or others, and the amount raised from each source of revenue, and the expenditures in detail, and classified by reference to the objects thereof. The controller shall select and administer the form and manner of maintaining the official financial records in connection with the fiscal affairs of the county. Where the controller prescribes a change in the form and manner of maintaining the official financial records, any costs necessary for implementation shall be subject to the approval of the county commissioners.”

 

As summarized by the Commonwealth Court in their January 26, 2024 opinion, “…Next to the commissioners[,] the controller is probably the most important official concerned with county financial administration. In financial control per se, [s]he is probably the most important. It is h[er] responsibility to supervise the accounts of all county officers who deal with public moneys. In addition to annually auditing, adjusting and settling their accounts, the controller authorizes all fiscal transactions. At any time [s]he can require officers to account for all public money and property under their jurisdiction. It is in h[er] power to investigate for fraud or any flagrant abuse of public money, and [s]he reports any such abuse of the public trust to the county commissioners and the district attorney with h[er] approbation of legal proceedings to be instituted against the officer involved. The controller is the official bookkeeper for the county. [Sh]e keeps a regular set of double entry books of all fiscal transactions of the county and prescribes the manner in which all books and forms dealing with county fiscal affairs should be designed and maintained. From h[er] records [s]he prepares and submits a monthly report to the commissioners depicting the financial condition of the county and the current status of the budget appropriation accounts. . . . Annually, [s]he prepares a comprehensive report of the financial status of the county as per the end of the year detailing the revenues and expenses for the year. This financial report is submitted to the court of common pleas . . . and the public.[14] The controller is also required to give information about the fiscal affairs of the county to any citizen desiring such information. The controller may be said to perform both a preaudit and a post-audit. [Sh]e performs the pre-audit through a daily check on purchases, through daily reports from the treasurer as to the status of all county funds and through monthly reports from all fee officers. [Sh]e performs the post-audit by virtue of h[er] authority to audit the books of any county office at any time. The function of pre-audit, as will be pointed out below, is a most important one indeed. Here the controller scrutinizes, checks the status of appropriations and decides on the propriety of all bills, claims and other demands brought against the county. If [s]he approves the expenditure, [s]he draws and certifies vouchers for payment; if [s]he disapproves, [s]he sends a notice to the county commissioners stating the reasons for h[er] disapproval. H[er] disapproval can only be overridden by a court order obtained by the commissioners.[15] There is no similar pre-audit control in counties which do not have a controller. * * * The post-auditing duties of the controller include not only the audit of county moneys but also all taxes, penalties, fines, costs, etc., collected by the county treasurer and belonging to any of the county’s political subdivisions.[16] The controller has custody of the county’s titles to real estate, contracts, paid bonds and obligations . . . . [17] Finally, the controller also audits the accounts of parole and probation officers who receive any moneys paid under the sentence, order or judgment of any court, reporting the audit to that court.[18] To facilitate the performance of h[er] duties, the controller may appoint a deputy, clerks and a solicitor.[19] Dr. John Wesley Cook, Fiscal Administration in Pennsylvania Counties 17-19 (1966).” {full opinion can be found at https://www.pacourts.us/assets/opinions/Commonwealth/out/161CD23_1-26-24.pdf }

    

The Controller is a member of the Salary Board (Secretary), the Retirement Board (Secretary) and the Prison Board. 

 

Mrs. Rogers also volunteers at the YWCA Boutique (a non-profit thrift store that has been offering a wide selection of quality, stylish, and affordable items for women, men, and children since 2013), and as a Fairy Godmother during Cinderella's Closet (Cinderella's Closet helps make dreams come true for local teenagers by offering prom gowns, and accessories, for a low cost). 

Mrs. Rogers is a Melvin Jones Fellow and past President of South Williamsport Lions Club.