Oct. 05 -- ALBION, PA -- The Albion Volunteer Firemen's Relief Association and Albion Volunteer Fire Department said in a joint statement that they have corrected most of the deficiencies found in a recent state audit of the relief association.
Pennsylvania's auditor general announced in September that he would withhold state aid to the Albion Volunteer Firemen's Relief Association because of $39,000 in undocumented expenses and other concerns. Auditors detailed seven deficiencies or instances of non-compliance with state law.
Also among those findings were more than $5,000 in unauthorized expenses, including performing maintenance on a fire-company owned vehicle; relief association payments on a $127,266 loan for a vehicle that it does not own; and no formal agreement for a $117,000 loan to the Albion Fire Department for the purchase of an ambulance.
Auditor General Eugene DePasquale said the association continued to suffer from "mismanagement issues" after a 2016 audit found some of those same deficiencies.
A loss of state funding would be a blow to the relief association. The association received $17,626 in state aid distributed by Albion Borough and Conneaut Township in 2017, according to the latest audit, covering Jan. 1, 2015, through Dec. 31, 2017.
Money for firefighter relief associations helps buy equipment and pay for training and insurance for the fire department. The state releases funds for the relief associations to municipalities, which then distribute the funds.
The money is generated by a 2 percent state tax on fire insurance premiums purchased by Pennsylvanians from out-of-state casualty insurance companies.
Auditors' findings have been carefully reviewed by the association and fire department, according to Thursday's joint statement.
"The fire department has thoroughly reviewed its records in relation to the seven findings and at this time believes it can provide documentation to the Auditor General sufficient to resolve five of the seven findings," officials said in the statement.
"The two remaining findings can be resolved shortly, upon receipt of bank records and training records, if available," they said.
One of those remaining findings concerns is a $7,478 state allocation mistakenly deposited into an unrestricted fire department account, department officials said. The other finding concerns questionable spending that fire department and relief association officials said went for permissible equipment and training.
"The second of these two remaining findings will require the department to obtain and produce firefighter training certificates and other receipts and invoices, and this effort is well underway," according to the statement.
Any expenditures that don't meet guidelines for relief association funds will be reimbursed by the fire department, officials said.
"The department is satisfied that no funds were spent for frivolous or dishonest purposes," Albion officials said. "All expenditures were for legitimate expenses of the (fire) department to allow it to fulfill its mission of protecting lives and property. Any expenditure deemed improper was made in good faith, if lacking a correct understanding of what expenditures are permissible."
State funding may be released if the deficiencies are addressed, auditors said this summer.
Staff writer Madeleine O'Neill contributed to this article.
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