Audit Objective
Did the Colesville-Windsor Fire District (District) Board of Fire Commissioners (Board) provide adequate oversight of financial operations?
Audit Period
January 1, 2022 – December 31, 2024.
We extended the audit period back to January 1, 2019 and forward to November 12, 2025 to review the status of Annual Financial Report (AFR) filings.
Understanding the Audit Area
The Board, being responsible for the general management and control of the District’s financial operations, must provide adequate oversight of the District’s financial operations to help ensure public funds are managed with accountability, transparency and integrity. This critical function can help maintain public trust, prevent mismanagement, waste, fraud and legal non-compliance.
From 2022 through 2024, budgeted appropriations averaged $50,200 and the District processed 41 claims totaling $131,800.
Audit Summary
The Board did not provide adequate financial oversight. As a result of the weaknesses identified, the Board’s ability to assess financial operations was diminished and the Board provided less assurance to taxpayers and other interested parties that the District’s financial operations were adequately accounted for and reported. In addition, the District faced an increased risk of theft, loss and misuse of District resources. Specifically, the Board did not:
- Review periodic financial reports to assess the District’s operations or conduct an annual audit of the Secretary-Treasurer’s records to verify that the Secretary-Treasurer properly recorded collections and disbursements and maintained current and accurate records and reports.
- Ensure that the Secretary-Treasurer maintained up-to-date accounting records that tracked receipt and disbursement activity by account, which provide the Board with critical information on the results of operations, and properly filed the 2019 through 2024 AFRs in a timely manner, which provide the Board, taxpayers, the Office of the New York State Comptroller (OSC) and other interested parties the ability to assess information about the District’s financial standing in a timely manner.
- Properly audit claims which resulted in 31 claims totaling $94,900 out of the 41 claims totaling $131,800 having one or more auditing deficiencies, such as lack of the Board’s documented audit and approval prior to payment and claims that were not supported by invoices or receipts.
- Comply with New York State (NYS) General Municipal Law (GML) by:
- Maintaining a code of ethics that could have supported a tone of standards of conduct reasonably expected of officers and employees.
- Adopting a procurement policy that can help achieve cost savings through competition and waste reduction, establish a standardized process, enhance transparency and maintain ethical standards.
- Adopting an investment policy that provides guidelines on how to manage District funds to help ensure the District’s investment program involving public money has the basic attributes of legality, safety, liquidity and yield.
- Completing fiscal oversight training that helps ensure that Commissioners are positioned to oversee the District’s financial operations and helps ensure the necessary reporting requirements and policies are in place. Each of the five Commissioners were required to complete this training within 270 days of their first day in office.
Furthermore, a member of a town board may not simultaneously serve as a commissioner of a fire district located within the town, as the duties attached to these two positions are incompatible with each other.1 However, a District Commissioner also concurrently served on the Town of Windsor Board.
The report includes 11 recommendations that, if implemented, will improve the Board’s oversight of financial operations. District officials generally agreed with our findings and indicated they have initiated or plan to initiate corrective action. The District’s response is included in Appendix B.
We conducted this audit pursuant to Article V, Section 1 of the State Constitution and the State Comptroller’s authority as set forth in Article 3 of the New York State General Municipal Law. Our methodology and standards are included in Appendix C.
The Board has the responsibility to initiate corrective action. Pursuant to Section 181-b of New York State Town Law, a written corrective action plan (CAP) that addresses the findings and recommendations in this report must be prepared and forwarded to our office within 90 days. To the extent practicable, implementation of the CAP must begin by the end of the next fiscal year. For more information on preparing and filing your CAP, please refer to our brochure, Responding to an OSC Audit Report, which you received with the draft audit report. We encourage the Board to make the CAP available for public review.
1 See, e.g., 1987 Opinions of the NYS Attorney General Inf. No. 87-63