Like Erie County executives before him, Chris Collins has held on to money left over from completed public projects when he could use it to pay off debt or meet other county needs, the county comptroller says in a recent audit.

Comptroller Mark C. Poloncarz’s staff and public works officials in 2009 tallied $3.5 million in so-called “dormant accounts.” The accounts were set up, usually with borrowed money, to pay for road or bridge repairs and other major improvements. When those projects came in under budget, the unspent dollars were left to await other needs.

County executives over the years have held this money to use when they see fit, though they often need County Legislature consent to spend them on a new project or purpose.

This year, certain county lawmakers have pressed Collins to spend any extra money on child care subsidies for working poor families, a program he cut in the face of dwindling state aid. He refuses to spend local tax dollars to make up for declines in state support.

Poloncarz said he has encouraged Collins’ budget director, Gregory G. Gach, to this year close the accounts deemed dormant in 2009 and spend the money to pay off debt or to meet other needs as allowed by the terms of the bond sales.

Poloncarz expressed his wish in an audit of the Public Works Department’s bidding procedures, which he found satisfactory.

Gach on Friday said he intends to review the accounts and determine those to close. He said the county executive and his team makes the decisions, not the comptroller.

Gach said he didn’t close out the accounts in 2009 because he figured he might need the money for improvement projects if Collins, the Legislature and the state-appointed control board failed to agree on the sale of public works bonds this year.

The county’s elected leaders and the control board have deadlocked in the past, as the control board pushed to borrow money on the government’s behalf. As a result, bonds went unsold for more than two years and repair projects were slowed or stalled.

Gach said that when the books were closed on 2009 there was no clear plan on how or when the county would sell this year’s bonds for improvement projects. The Legislature only weeks ago declared the need for the control board to borrow about $170 million for improvements.

“I didn’t want to make a decision I was going to regret later on,” Gach said. “Up until we had the Legislature agree to that declaration of need, there was some question as to whether we were going to be able to borrow for 2010. So I wanted to keep our options open.”