Audit Objective
Did the North Brookfield Fire District (District) Board of Fire Commissioners (Board) adequately oversee the District’s financial operations?
Audit Period
January 1, 2024 – December 18, 2025
We extended the audit period to review the District's 2016 through 2024 Annual Financial Report (AFR) filings as of December 18, 2025.
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.
As of September 30, 2025, the District had two bank accounts with combined cash balances totaling $117,029. The District’s Board-adopted calendar year 2025 budget totaled $70,643 and was primarily funded by real property taxes.
Audit Summary
The Board did not adequately oversee the District’s financial operations. The Board did not require the Secretary-Treasurer to maintain appropriate accounting records, prepare bank reconciliations, provide adequate monthly financial reports and file required AFRs with the Office of the New York State Comptroller (OSC). As a result, the Board had insufficient information to properly oversee the District’s financial operations and make informed financial decisions. Because the Board did not provide sufficient oversight of the Secretary-Treasurer’s duties, there was an increased risk that funds could be misappropriated.
Specifically, the Board did not ensure the Secretary-Treasurer:
- Performed bank reconciliations for the District’s checking account to ensure the District’s accounting records agree with the bank records. As of September 30, 2025, the Secretary-Treasurer’s checkbook register balance was $1,139 less than the adjusted bank balance.
- Maintained accounting records for the District’s reserve bank account, which had a balance of $89,529.
- Provided budget-to-actual reports to the Board showing how much was collected or spent relative to budgeted amounts.
- Filed required AFRs with OSC for the 2016 through 2024 fiscal years.1 This diminishes the transparency of District financial activities and leaves the District without a means to demonstrate its financial standing to the Board, District residents, taxpayers, OSC and other interested parties.
Furthermore, the Board did not conduct an annual audit of the Secretary-Treasurer’s records. Without an annual audit, the Board’s ability to provide adequate oversight of the District’s financial activities and ensure funds are properly accounted for is diminished. In addition, four of the five Commissioners did not complete the mandatory fiscal oversight training, which would have helped them be better prepared to fulfill their fiscal oversight responsibilities.
The report includes seven recommendations that, if implemented, will help the Board improve its oversight of the District’s financial operations. District officials generally 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 the New York State General Municipal Law (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.
1 OSC’s website provides more information on AFR nonfilers and the District’s current AFR filing status at: https://web.osc.state.ny.us/localgov/afr-non-filers/