State Comptroller Says Farmingville FD Failed to Put Contracts Out for Bid

According to an audit by the New York State Comptroller's Office, the Farmingville Fire District failed to put contracts out for bid.

A Comptroller's report for the period of Jan. 1, 2010, to Jan. 31, 2011, said the Farmingville Board of Fire Commissioners did not use the competitive bid system for purchases totaling more than $59,000.

According to the report, the board also did not ensure that district personnel complied with the district’s procurement policy, GML or the travel policy for credit cards and did not adopt a policy for the use of credit cards for local purchases. As a result, the district failed to solicit competitive bids or quotes for purchases totaling $59,488. In addition, questionable credit card purchases for meals and clothing totaled $2,066.

Furthermore, the board awarded a contract totaling $49,500 for the purchase of a racing truck.

"Despite spending $32,000, the district still had not received the vehicle during our audit," the report said. "The board failed to require the vendor to deliver the vehicle prior to payment and has not pursued recovery of district’s payments."

The comptroller's office also reviewed 11 months of fuel transactions and found on average 300 gallons of gasoline could not be accounted for on a monthly basis thus resulting in approximately $7,700 of fuel unaccounted for.

One final issue in the report was that the board had not adopted an acceptable use policy or a disaster recovery plan for its IT system.

In a story through the Associated Press, the fire district board said it has already taken corrective actions. Board Chairman Stephen Curtin told Newsday he's been fighting the "inefficacies, mismanagement and fiscal lirresponsibilities... for years."

Among the recommendations in the report:

• Monitor and enforce compliance with the District’s procurement policy and GML.
• Formally authorize the use of credit cards and adopt a credit card policy that addresses local purchases.
• Recover the money spent for the racing truck purchase.
• Adopt written policies and procedures that require District personnel to create a fuel inventory record, periodically reconcile that record to the fuel use log and physical inventory on hand and follow up on any material differences.
• Formally adopt an acceptable use policy and a disaster recovery plan.

To read the full report, click here.