Audit Objective 

Determine whether the Wallace Fire District (District) Board of Fire Commissioners (Board) provided adequate oversight of the District’s financial operations. 

Key Findings 

The Board did not provide adequate oversight of the District’s financial operations. We determined that: 

• District funds are not adequately safeguarded and not spent in a prudent and economical manner. For example, the Board did not use competitive methods to purchase a used 2008 brush truck (mini pumper) that cost $175,000. As a result, officials likely purchased a vehicle that was not the most prudent or in the best interest of taxpayers (Figure 3).
• The Board did not establish an effective system of internal controls over key financial areas.
• The Treasurer did not submit periodic financial reports to the Board, including monthly bank reconciliations, monthly Treasurer’s reports and budget-to-actual reports.
• The Board adopted an unrealistic budget resulting in an operating surplus totaling $45,274.
• The Treasurer has not filed the 2023 Annual Financial Report (AFR) and the Board did not conduct an annual audit of the Treasurer’s records.

Key Recommendations 

The audit report includes 10 recommendations to help improve the Board’s oversight of the District’s financial operations. 

District officials generally agreed with our recommendations and indicated they plan to initiate corrective action.