Pennsylvania’s auditor general said the state game commission is sitting on a $72 million game fund and has a lack of fiscal controls he found “troubling.”

Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said the 136-page performance audit he released Thursday covered the game commission’s finances from July 2014 through June 2017.

In that time, the commission’s game fund grew 48 percent, to over $56.1 million. When DePasquale’s office checked the balance as of June 30, 2018, they found it had grown to an “astounding” $72.8 million.

That figure does not include seven escrow accounts of gas and oil company land lease funds, one with more than $1 million, that totaled $6.5 million, officials said.

The game commission does not receive funds from the state’s general fund budget. Rather, it is mostly funded from hunting licenses sales, leasing land to energy companies, timber sales, and federal excise tax on firearms and ammunition, the auditor general said.

DePasquale called the game fund balance a “very high” reserve for an agency, and noted the commission said it cannot factor that money in its budget decisions.

Asked about fee increases while the commission has such a large fund balance, DePasquale said, “I would be hard pressed at this point to support any type of fee increases until i was confident that all of these funds were better managed, and that there was a real game plan for that $73 million. After that, it’s up to the general assembly.”

The commission’s escrow accounts are not under the state’s treasury department, a unique situation, DePasquale said at a news conference Thursday morning. The commission was not tracking the revenue from the companies going into the accounts, and was relying on the companies’ determination of what they owed, he continued.

“That needs to change, and it needs to change now,” he said, later adding the game commission could agree to have that happen or it could change via the legislature.

In a statement, the game commission said it will ask the treasury department to monitor its escrow accounts, and will clearly identify the amounts being held in escrow and reserve when reporting the agency’s year-end revenue and expenditures.

“Nearly all the recommendations offered by the auditor general’s office will further improve the game commission’s operations and we have started to implement them,” Commission Executive Director Bryan Burhans said in the statement. “I’d like to personally thank Auditor General Eugene DePasquale and his staff for their thorough and professional review of our agency. No matter how big or small, wildlife wins with every improvement we make.”

The statement did not address the $72.8 million game fund balance.

The game commission was cooperative with the audit, which has 11 findings and 43 recommendations to strengthen its financial oversight and transparency.

“They agreed with practically all the recommendations,” he said. “Time will tell.”

Rep. David Maloney, R-Berks, said the audit shows why so many sportsmen in Pennsylvania have been concerned over the past few years.

Sportsmen often ask legislators where the commission’s money is going, and the commission doesn’t “really have a good answer," he said.

The game commission has repeatedly asked for fee increases, and have wanted to control the amount of the increases.

“They want to be able to just state what they think it should be, and determine that,” Maloney said.

Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.