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 3 of 20

Report Highlights
 Town of Hamburg

Audit Objective
  Background
Determine whether Town officials properly
accounted for and monitored fuel purchases.  The Town of Hamburg (Town) is located
  in Erie County and has a population of
Key Findings  approximately 58,000 residents. The
  Town is governed by an elected Town
  ll Fuel purchases made with equipment fuel  Board (Board), which is composed of four
  cards (i.e., fobs) are not monitored or tracked.  Board members and a Town Supervisor
  ll No inventory records are maintained for fuel  (Supervisor). The Board is responsible for
  in reserve tanks.  managing operations.

  The elected Highway Superintendent
Key Recommendations  (Superintendent) and the Director of
  Buildings and Grounds (appointed by the
  ll Track fuel purchased with equipment fobs.
  Board in January 2019) are responsible for
  ll Maintain perpetual inventory records  safeguarding fuel cards and tanks. Before
  for reserve tanks and perform periodic  January 7, 2019, the Superintendent was
  reconciliations.  responsible for overseeing the Buildings
  and Grounds Department.
Town officials agreed with our recommendations
and indicated they planned to initiate corrective
action.  Quick Facts

  2018 General and
  $37.5 million
  Highway Appropriations

  Fuel Purchased  $480,000

  Gallonsa  224,000

  Number of Fuel Cards
  120
  (i.e., fobs)

  Reserve Tanks  6

  a During the audit period, the majority of
  fuel was purchased at local gas stations;
  27,000 gallons, costing approximately
  $58,000, was for reserve tanks.

  Audit Period
  January 1, 2017 – January 22, 2019

  Of f ic e of t he New York State Comptroller  1