Audit Objective
Did the Bloomington Fire District (District) Board of Fire Commissioners (Board) obtain an annual audit of the Treasurer’s financial records, and did the Treasurer file the Annual Financial Report (AFR) with the Office of the State Comptroller (OSC) as required?
Audit Period
January 1, 2025 – May 1, 2026
We extended our observation of annual AFR filings forward to July 27, 2026, and back to fiscal year 2018.
Understanding the Audit Area
To fulfill its fiscal oversight responsibilities, a board of fire commissioners (board) should obtain an annual audit of the treasurer’s financial records and ensure the treasurer files the AFR with OSC on time as required by GML. Doing so will help identify and address errors or irregularities and provide fire district residents, taxpayers and other interested parties with transparent and reliable information about the fire district’s fiscal condition and operations.
District officials budgeted a total of $479,772 for the general fund appropriations in fiscal year 2025 to provide essential fire protection services. The budget was funded by $482,755 in revenue collections.
Audit Summary
The Board did not obtain an audit of the Treasurer’s financial records for fiscal year 2025. According to District officials, the last Board-obtained audit of the Treasurer’s records was for fiscal year 2017. In addition, the Treasurer did not prepare and file the 2025 AFR with OSC within 60 days after the fiscal year end as required by New York State (NYS) General Municipal Law (GML) Section 30. Prior to this audit, the Treasurer last filed the AFR for fiscal year 2017.
Because the Board did not fulfill its oversight responsibilities, and the Treasurer did not fulfill her statutory responsibilities in a timely manner, transparency of the District’s fiscal activities was diminished. As a result, District residents, taxpayers, OSC and other interested parties did not have access to the District’s current fiscal condition.
The report includes three recommendations that, if implemented, will improve the Board’s fiscal oversight of the District and the transparency of the District’s fiscal activities. District officials generally agreed with our recommendations and their response is included in Appendix B.
This audit was conducted pursuant to Article V, Section 1 of the State Constitution and OSC’s authority as set forth in Article 3 of GML. The audit’s 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, a written corrective action plan (CAP) that addresses the findings and recommendations in this report must be prepared and forwarded to OSC 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 the CAP, please refer to the OSC brochure, Responding to an OSC Audit Report, which was provided with the draft audit report. The Board is encouraged to make the CAP available for public review.