Audit Objective
Did Middlesex Fire District (District) officials ensure the procurement of goods and services in an economical manner?
Audit Period
January 1, 2024 – October 24, 2025.
We extended the audit period back to January 1, 2022 to review the purchase of a tanker truck.
Understanding the Audit Area
A board of fire commissioners and its officials should seek competition for goods and services to ensure the best value for taxpayers, prevent conflicts of interest and maintain public trust. Seeking competition also guards against favoritism, extravagance and fraud, while allowing interested vendors a fair and equal opportunity to compete.
The Secretary/Treasurer (Treasurer) is the District’s chief fiscal officer and is responsible for disbursing District funds.
The District purchased $251,848 in goods and services during the period of January 1, 2024 through July 16, 2025, and made a payment of $157,992 toward the purchase of a tanker truck.
Audit Summary
District officials did not ensure the procurement of goods and services were done in an economical manner. District officials also did not demonstrate that the emergency exception to competitive bidding applied when procuring a new tanker truck. Additionally, officials did not follow the procurement policy adopted by the Board of Fire Commissioners (Board) for procurements not subject to New York State General Municipal Law’s (GML) competitive bidding requirements. When District officials do not seek competition or document the methods used, taxpayers have less assurance that the purchase was made in the most prudent and economical manner, in the District’s best interest, without favoritism and in compliance with applicable statutes.
Specifically, District officials did not:
- Competitively bid and award a contract valued at $564,065 to purchase a new tanker truck.
- Seek competition by obtaining verbal or written quotes for 14 purchases totaling $82,727.
The report includes three recommendations that, if implemented, will improve the District’s procurement of goods and services. District officials disagreed with certain aspects of our findings but indicated they have initiated or plan to initiate corrective action. Appendix C includes our comments on issues raised in the District’s response letter.
We conducted this audit pursuant to Article V, Section 1 of the State Constitution and the New York Office of the State Comptroller’s (OSC) authority as set forth in Article 3 of GML. 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, 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.