EMFD Audited by State Comptroller's Office

The East Meadow Fire District was audited due to issues with compliance to their own credit card and purchasing policies, according to the New York State Comptroller's office.

The purpose of the audit was to "examine the District's internal controls over selected financial operations" between Jan. 1, 2009 and Oct. 31, 2010. During the 2009 fiscal year, the District's general fund expenditures totaled approximately $6.5 million, and totaled $5.3 million in 2010, according to the report.

The following violations were reported by the New York State Comptroller's office.

• The District did not enforce compliance with its credit card guidelines and purchasing policy. District officials paid credit card claims without original receipts to substantiate the charges, did not obtain adequate quotes in accordance with the District's purchasing policy, and did not solicit competition in the procurement of professional service providers.
• The District has not assigned an individual independent of the Business Office to be the system administrator, which increases the risk that inappropriate financial transactions could be made without detection or correction.
• Although the software has an audit trail capability, which can produce reports to monitor user access, it was not turned on.

The recommendations that were made included carefully monitor credit card usage, assigning an individual to be the systems administrator and ensure that the audit trail function is turned on for all users.

From Newsday:

Sometimes it was done, but not properly documented, Carey Welt, the East Meadow Fire District chairman, said. Sometimes, getting the proper number of quotes would have slowed down a project or ended up costing the district more money, he added. As an example, he pointed to purchasing cabinets for the dispatch room, saying that they needed to be installed before other work was finished. The first quote was too high, so the board went with a second quote. They were supposed to get three quotes, the chairman said, adding that the district is going to be more vigilant.

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