Mattituck Fire District Made $125K in Payments Without Proper Review, Audit Finds

Mattituck Fire District officials made more than $125,000 in payments without ensuring there was adequate and reviewed supporting documentation to verify the expenditures’ accuracy, a recent New York State audit found.Those are the findings of a 23-page financial review of the fire district’s budget between Jan. 1, 2023 and June 30, 2024 in which auditors with State Comptroller Thoms DiNapoli’s office recommended that district officials thoroughly review claims before making payments.

“The board did not ensure that all non-payroll disbursements were appropriate, adequately supported,  audited and approved before claims were paid,” auditors stated in the report issued last month. “When the board does not perform a thorough and complete review of claims to ensure they are supported by adequate invoices or other documentation, the district has an increased risk that it could incur unnecessary costs or pay for goods or services that were not received or that were not valid district expenditures.”

Of 135 claims totaling $194,4781 that the fire district board approved, 90 — 67% of all claims subject to the audit — were not reviewed to ensure they had adequate supporting documents, state auditors stated.

David Haas, chairman of the board of commissioners, wrote in in a five-page response to the audit that took issue with some of the claims that auditors disputed, but said that the district will take the state’s recommendations to improve its payment process.

“The board has reviewed the recommendation set forth … and has outlined the corrective actions that will be taken in response,” he wrote.