Audit Objective
Did the Morristown Fire District (District) Board of Fire Commissioners (Board) provide adequate oversight of District financial operations and properly audit claims?
Audit Period
January 1, 2024 – May 5, 2025
We extended the audit period to review the District’s 2020 through 2024 Annual Financial Report (AFR) filings as of September 23, 2025.
Understanding the Audit Area
The Board is responsible for the general management and control of the District’s financial operations. This includes adopting necessary policies and procedures, ensuring collections are accurately recorded and deposited in a timely manner, periodically reviewing financial records and reports, annually auditing the Secretary-Treasurer’s records and ensuring the AFR is filed in a timely manner. The Board appointed Secretary-Treasurer serves as the District’s chief fiscal officer and is responsible for receiving and disbursing District funds, maintaining the financial records and providing periodic financial reports to the Board.
The Board is also responsible for auditing and approving claims prior to payment. The audit of claims is often the last line of defense for preventing unauthorized, improper or fraudulent claims from being paid. When a strong claims auditing process is established, control is enhanced because officials and employees are aware that a careful review of claims will occur before District funds are disbursed.
During the 2024 fiscal year, the District received 25 collections totaling $422,670 and paid 183 individual claims totaling $367,802.
Audit Summary
The Board did not provide adequate oversight of District financial operations, and it did not always conduct a proper audit of claims prior to payment. As a result, claims were paid without adequate supporting documentation and prior to Board audit and approval. Furthermore, the Board did not ensure the Secretary-Treasurer filed required AFRs. This diminishes the transparency of District financial operations and leaves the District without a means to demonstrate its financial standing to the Board, District residents, taxpayers, the Office of the New York State Comptroller (OSC) and interested parties. Due to the lack of adequate Board oversight, the District faced an increased risk of theft, loss and misuse of District resources. Specifically, the Board did not:
- Ensure the Secretary-Treasurer deposited District collections in a timely manner, performed monthly bank reconciliations and maintained accurate financial records and reports. As a result, the adjusted bank balance exceeded the recorded cash by $3,394.
- Conduct an annual audit of the Secretary-Treasurer’s records.
- Develop and adopt a procurement policy or investment policy, as required by New York State General Municipal Law (GML) Sections 104-b and 39, respectively.
- Ensure claims were properly supported and audited and approved prior to payment. For example, five claims approved by the Board totaling $8,100 lacked adequate supporting documentation and eight claims totaling $1,404 were improperly paid prior to Board audit.
- Ensure the Secretary-Treasurer filed required AFRs with OSC for the 2020 through 2024 fiscal years
The report includes 15 recommendations that, if implemented, will improve the Board’s oversight of financial operations.
District officials agreed with our recommendations and their response is included in Appendix B.
We conducted this audit pursuant to Article V, Section 1 of the State Constitution and OSC’s authority as set forth in Article 3 of GML. 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 (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.