Audit Objective 

Determine whether Fairview Fire District (District) officials ensured employees’ payroll payments and leave accruals were accurate, monitored, properly approved and supported. 

Key Findings 

District officials did not ensure all employee payroll payments and leave accruals were accurate, monitored, properly approved and supported. This occurred because the Board of Fire Commissioners (Board) did not provide adequate oversight, segregate payroll duties or develop compensating controls or develop written policies and procedures for these duties. As a result, we determined that District officials made payroll calculation errors totaling $8,936 and potentially: 

• Overpaid 11 employees by a total of $44,301 for leave accrual payments that were inaccurate and unsupported.
• Paid five employees $55,407 in overtime payments that could have been avoided or reduced.

Key Recommendations 

•  Ensure employees are paid only for hours worked and leave time to which they are entitled.
• Review payroll errors identified in this report and, if appropriate, consult with the attorney for the District to possibly recover overpayments made to employees.
• Ensure that all leave requests are properly approved and supported and that employees take leave time only to which they are entitled. 

District officials generally agreed with our recommendations and have initiated or indicated they planned to initiate corrective action. Appendix B includes our comment on an issue that was raised in the District’s response letter.