{"id":282897,"date":"2026-06-30T22:30:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-30T22:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/282897\/"},"modified":"2026-06-30T22:30:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-30T22:30:08","slug":"state-fine-theresa-fire-districts-likely-costing-taxpayers-money-by-not-following-guidance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/282897\/","title":{"rendered":"State: Fine & Theresa fire districts likely costing taxpayers money by not following guidance"},"content":{"rendered":"

ALBANY, New York (WWNY) – The New York State Comptroller\u2019s Office says two North Country fire districts have failed to follow recommendations it made years ago after audits identified financial issues. The state says it\u2019s likely costing taxpayers money.<\/p>\n

Fine Fire District<\/p>\n

The comptroller\u2019s office says the Fine Fire District\u2019s board<\/a> failed to implement any of the state\u2019s recommendations following a 2023 audit. <\/p>\n

Three years ago, the state said the board failed to monitor financial activities or maintain appropriate records and reports adequately. As a result, more taxes were levied than needed.<\/p>\n

The comptroller\u2019s office made 20 recommendations, including developing realistic budgets, holding public budget hearings, and auditing the secretary-treasurer\u2019s records annually. In a 2023 letter, the fire district\u2019s board said it was following the recommendations.<\/p>\n

Three years later, the state says none of the recommendations were implemented.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe commissioners did not provide reasonable explanations for why the board did not implement the recommendations. Additionally, the commissioners demonstrated an unwillingness to exercise the board\u2019s oversight responsibilities by taking no action in the more than two years since the prior audit was issued,\u201d the comptroller\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n

7 News was unable to reach the fire district\u2019s board for comment.<\/p>\n

Theresa Fire District <\/p>\n

The comptroller\u2019s office says the Theresa Fire District\u2019s board<\/a> failed to implement seven of its 13 recommendations after a 2021 audit.<\/p>\n

In that audit, the state said the board did not provide adequate oversight to ensure that financial activities were properly recorded and reported, and did not properly manage the fund balance. <\/p>\n

Of the audit\u2019s 13 recommendations, the state says district officials fully implemented one recommendation, partially implemented five, and did not implement seven. <\/p>\n

According to the comptroller\u2019s office, it recommended that the district\u2019s treasurer prepare and maintain accurate, complete and up-to-date accounting records. The board bought accounting software and met that recommendation.<\/p>\n

The office also recommended the board change the way it budgets. The comptroller says the district is overestimating operating costs, collecting more taxpayer money than necessary. In fact, the state says it\u2019s enough to fund the district for three years.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, through talks with the board, the comptroller\u2019s office found there are no adequate long-term financial or capital plans with that money to justify residents\u2019 tax levy.<\/p>\n

The comptroller\u2019s office said that \u201cuntil all recommendations are implemented, the board cannot ensure district assets are fully safeguarded.\u201d<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 WWNY. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ALBANY, New York (WWNY) – The New York State Comptroller\u2019s Office says two North Country fire districts have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282898,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[29187,108471,108472,9,11,10,49,51,50,18941],"class_list":["post-282897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-comptrollers-office","tag-fine","tag-fire-districts","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-theresa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282897\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}