§ 181-B — Independent audit of fire districts

§ 181-b. Independent audit of fire districts. 1. The commissioner of\neach fire district with revenues of four hundred thousand dollars or\nmore shall obtain an annual audit of its records by an independent\ncertified public accountant or an independent public accountant. The\nreport of such annual audit shall be presented to the fire district\nboard of fire commissioners by such accountant. Such fire district audit\nshall include, but not be limited to, the district's financial\nconditions and resources and such other things as the state comptroller\nmay designate. A copy of the audit report in form prescribed by the\nstate comptroller and certified by the accountant, shall be furnished to\nthe commissioners, the town boards served by the district and the state\ncomptroller within one hundred eighty days following the end of the\nfiscal year audited.\n 2. The commissioner of each fire district with revenues of less than\nfour hundred thousand dollars shall report the district's financial\nconditions and resources and such other things as the state comptroller\nmay designate on a form prescribed by him or her. A copy of such report\nshall be issued to the state comptroller within one hundred eighty days\nfollowing the end of the fiscal year. The state comptroller may\ndesignate an amount below which no report shall be required.\n 3. On or after January first, two thousand seven, all fire districts\nsubject to the provisions of subdivision one of this section shall\nutilize a competitive request for proposal process when contracting for\nsuch annual audit. In addition, no audit engagement shall be for a term\nlonger than five consecutive years; provided, however, that nothing in\nthis subdivision shall preclude a district, in its discretion, from\npermitting an independent certified public accountant or an independent\npublic accountant engaged under an existing contract for such services\nto (i) submit a proposal for such services in response to a request for\ncompetitive proposals, or (ii) be awarded a contract to provide such\nservices under a request for proposal process.\n 4. Notwithstanding the provisions of subparagraph one of paragraph (b)\nof subdivision four of section thirty-five of the general municipal law,\neach fire district shall (i) prepare a corrective action plan in\nresponse to any findings contained in the annual external audit report\nor management letter, or any final audit report issued by the state\ncomptroller, within ninety days of receipt of such report or letter, and\n(ii) to the extent practicable, begin implementation of such corrective\naction plan no later than the end of the next fiscal year.\n