Audit Objective
Did the Scarborough Fire District (District) Board of Fire Commissioners (Board) provide adequate oversight of the District’s financial operations?
Audit Period
January 1, 2024 – February 28, 2025
We extended the audit period back to January 1, 2019 and forward to October 31, 2025, to review the timeliness of required Annual Financial Report (AFR) submissions, and forward to April 30, 2025, to review Commissioners’ training certifications.
Understanding the Audit Area
The Board, responsible for the general management and control of the District’s financial operations, must provide adequate oversight of the District’s financial operations to 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.
The elected five-member Board, including the Chairwoman and four Commissioners, is responsible for the District’s general management and financial control, including establishing and adopting any policies. The Board-appointed Secretary-Treasurer (Treasurer) is the chief fiscal officer (CFO) and is responsible for receiving, disbursing and accounting for District funds and preparing financial reports.
The District’s budgeted appropriations for the 2024 and 2025 fiscal years were $250,650 and $259,250, respectively.
Audit Summary
The Board did not provide adequate oversight of the District’s financial operations. As a result, the Board could not ensure that it was positioned to oversee the District’s financial operations, policies were in place or that necessary reporting requirements were met. Further, when the Board does not ensure that AFRs are filed in a timely manner, it prevents the Board, taxpayers, the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) and other interested parties from assessing the District’s financial standing.
Specifically, the Board did not:
- Adopt written financial policies to establish a system of internal controls that ensure oversight of financial operations, including a code of ethics, investment policy or procurement policy, as required by New York State General Municipal Law (GML).
- Develop and adopt written multiyear financial and capital plans.
- Ensure all Commissioners completed the mandatory fiscal oversight training in a timely manner.
- Ensure that the Treasurer filed the District’s 2018 through 2024 AFRs. The 2024 AFR was 244 days late as of October 31, 2025.
The report includes five recommendations that, if implemented, will improve the Board’s oversight of financial operations. District officials generally agreed with our recommendations and have indicated they planned to initiate corrective action. Appendix C includes our comment on an issue that was raised in the District’s response letter.
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 D.
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.