Audit Objective
Did the Center Moriches Fire District (District) Board of Commissioners (Board) obtain an annual audit of the District’s records and ensure that the Treasurer filed the required Annual Financial Report (AFR) with the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC)?
Audit Period
December 31, 2019 – June 30, 2025.
We extended our audit period forward to November 15, 2025 to review the status of the fiscal year end 2024 annual audit and AFR filings.
Understanding the Audit Area
To promote transparency and open government, New York State Town Law (Town Law) Section 181-b requires the board of fire commissioners of a fire district with revenues of at least $400,000, to annually obtain an audit of its records. Fire districts subject to this audit requirement must use a request for proposal (RFP) process that promotes competition when contracting for the audit and no audit engagement may be for more than five years.
New York State General Municipal Law (GML) Section 30 requires a treasurer to prepare, file with OSC and make available to the public an annual report of the fire district’s financial position and results of operations, known as the AFR. The board of fire commissioners is responsible for overseeing the general management and control of the fire district’s finances and should ensure that the treasurer prepares and files the AFR annually. Gaps or delays in completing annual audits or preparing and filing the required AFR undermine transparency and create missed opportunities to identify and remedy fiscal concerns.
Audit Summary
The Board did not obtain annual audits in a timely manner or ensure the Treasurer filed all AFRs with OSC. As a result, transparency of District financial operations was diminished, and the Board, District residents, taxpayers, OSC and other interested parties could not easily assess the District’s financial standing. Specifically:
- The Board hired Certified Public Accountant (CPA) firm did not complete fiscal year 2023 and 2024 annual audits in a timely manner. Specifically, the CPA firm completed the 2023 fiscal year audit on January 31, 2025, more than one year after the fiscal year end. Furthermore, the 2024 audit was still in progress as of November 15, 2025. Additionally, District officials had no record of the Board ever using an RFP process to contract the CPA firm’s services for the annual audit or an engagement letter with the CPA firm detailing the services to be provided.
- The Board did not ensure that the Treasurer filed the AFR as required. As of November 15, 2025 the Treasurer has not filed the 2020 through 2024 fiscal year AFRs and the last filed AFR, for fiscal year 2019, was filed 122 days late.
The report includes five recommendations that, if implemented, will improve the District’s fiscal transparency. District officials agreed with our findings and recommendations and indicated they plan to initiate corrective action.
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 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 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 of Commissioners to make the CAP available for public review.