Flanders Fire District heeds suggestions after comptroller audit
A state audit of the Flanders Fire Districts finances found no discrepancies in the money paid out by the district, but warned that district procedures and records weren’t “adequate” to prevent errors or irregularities.
The district says they have already changed their policies to comply with all of the state’s suggestions.
The state comptroller’s office began the audit in April and looked at the district’s financial records from January 2013 to March 2014.
In the report, which were released last Friday, auditors found that the district’s Board of Commissioners didn’t require the treasurer to have an abstract listing of all the claims — or money owed — the board paid out. The commissioners instead reviewed the claims individually.
“In addition, we found nothing in the Board minutes to show which claims the Board approved, because all the minutes we reviewed included the general statement ‘all bills and vouchers were audited and approved,’ ” auditor Gabriel Deyo wrote.
The state didn’t find any sign of misappropriation but advised the district to change its policies to list approved claims in the minutes of the board meetings and to compare approvals with the checks that are written.
In a written response to the audit last month, District Chairman Brian Willaims said the board was “eager to implement enhanced methods of operations.”
Flanders Fire District Commissioner Michael Spano said this week that the district was quick to respond to the suggestions.
“Whatever they suggested, we did,” he said, adding that the district had changed some of its policies as early as two months ago.
