City Controller, Challenger Clash Over Incumbent's Responsibilities

by KYW's John Ostapkovich
 
A challenger for Philadelphia City Controller says the incumbent is missing a major duty. The controller says the criticism misses the point.  

Brett Mandel says Alan Butkovitz is not doing one of his main jobs:

"Any examination of the charter shows that it very clearly demands that the city controller every single year audit every single department. Right now, this city controller is acting as if he's the decider."

Controller Butkovitz (photo) responds:

"The controller is doing the annual review of revenues and expenditures for all the departments. We're doing it on a risk basis. We're doing it on a big dollar basis. The people who are expert in this field say this is the right way to do it. The only person who says do it the other way is Brett."

For a link to a list of the controller's responsibilities, go to www.philadelphiacontroller.org.

(File photo by KYW's Mike DeNardo)