Audit Objective
Did the Big Indian-Oliverea Fire District (District) Board of Fire Commissioners (Board) provide adequate oversight of the District’s financial operations?
Audit Period
January 1, 2024 – April 3, 2025.
We extended the audit period back to January 1, 2020, to analyze various financial trends and the timeliness of Annual Financial Report (AFR) submissions.
Understanding the Audit Area
A board of fire commissioners, responsible for managing and controlling a fire district’s financial operations, must provide adequate oversight of financial operations to ensure public funds are managed with accountability, transparency and integrity. This critical function can help maintain public trust, ensure legal compliance, and protect public resources from mismanagement, waste and fraud.
The District’s budgeted appropriations for fiscal year 2024 totaled approximately $123,000, and the general and capital reserve fund balances totaled approximately $780,000 as of December 31, 2024. The District Treasurer (Treasurer) paid 60 claims totaling $96,742 during the audit period. The District had 16 LOSAP participants in 2024.
Audit Summary
The Board did not provide adequate oversight of the District’s financial operations. As a result, the Board hindered its ability to make informed financial decisions and cannot ensure taxpayers and other interested parties that the District’s financial activities are adequately reported and accounted for and that funds are used in the most fiscally responsible manner.
We identified deficiencies in the Board’s policies, budgeting practices, claims auditing, Length of Service Award Program (LOSAP) administration, AFR filings and compliance with training requirements. For example, the Board did not:
- Ensure all Commissioners completed training within 270 days of their first day in office as required by New York State Town Law (Town Law) Section 176-e. This training is intended to help ensure fire district commissioners have the knowledge needed to fulfill their statutory, fiscal, procurement and ethical responsibilities and help provide effective oversight of district operations and public resources.
- Adopt adequate policies for:
- Capital Plans
- Claims auditing
- Fund balance
- LOSAP, and
- Multiyear Financial Plans
- Prepare annual budgets that conform with statutory requirements.
- Ensure adequate accounting records were maintained or file the District’s AFR according to statutory requirements.
- Properly audit 100 percent of the claims we reviewed totaling $54,022 prior to payment.
- Properly administer LOSAP.
The report includes 11 recommendations to strengthen the Board’s oversight, improve accountability and the District’s financial management practices. Although District officials generally agreed with our recommendations and indicated they planned to take corrective action, they disagreed with certain aspects of our findings. Appendix C includes our comments on issues raised in the District’s response.
We conducted this audit pursuant to Article V, Section 1 of the State Constitution and the Office of the New York State Comptroller’s (OSC) authority as set forth in Article 3 of the New York State General Municipal Law (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 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.