Southtowns Record

Town of Hamburg - Fuel Operations (2019M-75)

Government
Town of Hamburg
Posted by publisher
Jun 28, 2019
Kind
State audit
Topics
Audits and oversight, Roads and traffic, Public safety

Publisher's summary

The Board did not adopt written policies and procedures for purchasing fuel from gas stations and monitoring fuel held in reserve tanks. In addition, the Superintendent did not properly monitor gas station fuel purchases or reserve tank inventories. Officials also did not adequately safeguard access to fuel. After removing active police and firefighters from the Town's authorized driver list, 267 individuals remained. We compared these names with a list of active employees and found that 148 individuals were not current employees. One individual listed was a consultant for the Town and authorized to purchase fuel for Town-related travel. The remaining 147 individuals should not have been on the list or have active PINs for fuel purchases. Although 75 of these individuals were former employees, the remaining 72 were not. The Highway Superintendent did not adequately review fuel transactions. Finally, Department officials did not maintain fuel logs or perpetual inventory records for the reserve tanks to track fuel delivered, used or remaining in the tanks.

Original document

Text · page 14 of 20

Read the whole document on one page (all 20 pages, each with its own heading)

IMPLEMENTATION OF FUEL USAGE REPORTS:

  Highway Department Fuel Management Objectives:
  - Establish controls that would reduce the risk of potential fraud or abuse.
  - Review fuel purchasing for compliance with best practices and contract terms.

 The Highway Department will enhance their monthly reconciliation process to include the following:
  - Monitor weekly/monthly beginning and ending fuel balances to ensure they carry forward properly.
  - Ensure that actual fuel purchases are included on the reconciliation.
  - Investigate significant variances and maintain supporting documentation evidencing the investigation.

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 BULK FUEL INVENTORY – HAMBURG HIGHWAY DEPARTMENT RESERVE DIESEL FUEL TANK

 Current preventive controls for Highway Department reserve fuel tank involve physical security of the Depart-
 ment fuel site including padlocks on fuel station and locked access to fuel pump breakers requiring key access
 to prevent unauthorized access to fuel. The Highway Department is in the process of implementing a manual-
 ly-input paper Fuel Inventory Log of on-site fuel inventory dispensed that requires vehicle or equipment ID and
 driver identification when fuel is issued. Department fuel usage and tank level recording is currently a manual
 process. Highway Department officials have made improvements in monitoring fuel usage and will continue to
 develop and establish stronger controls to monitor fuel.

 Photos: 2,000 gallon reserve fuel tank at Hamburg Highway Department

12  Of f ic e of t he New York State Comptroller