Accountability audit ongoing for Fire 12

Matt Baide | Dec 16, 20210

Mason County Fire Protection District 12 is going through an accountability audit from the state Auditor’s Office following the Nov. 18 meeting in Matlock.

The meeting was in response to the public being upset with the lack of communication from the district, which prompted the state Auditor’s office to conduct an accountability audit.

According to the 2019 financial data available on the state Auditor’s website, Mason County Fire District 12 had good financial health indicators in cash balance sufficiency, change in cash position, governmental funds sustainability and debt load. Revenues in 2019 were $313,836 and expenditures were $261,385.

The district has not filed its 2020 financial information, according to Assistant Director of Local Audits Tina Watkins at the meeting.

Mason County commissioner Kevin Shutty attended the meeting and said it was the “democratic process in action.”

“It’s good to see any level of government, citizens, constituents, speak up for the county government that they want to have in their respective communities,” Shutty said. “I think that was on display at the meeting on the 18. I think basically, the message that we should all be taking away from it is that the people of Mason County want open, transparent, accountable government and I think the fire district there is in a position to make the necessary improvements and move in that direction.”

Mason County Senior Accounting Technician Paige Hansen was in attendance for the county Auditor’s Office and said this is a case why open public meetings are so critical.

“It doesn’t matter if you’re in a small town or a giant city, decisions are made at a local level and the people that pay the taxes in that local district need to hear it, need to know what those decisions are based on and need to know what the repercussions of that decision-making process is,” Hansen said. “While some of the citizens there were very angry, I agree with Kevin, it’s a necessary process that people need to be able to hear their voices heard. That’s how you end up with unhappy people, when their voices aren’t heard. There were some folks that were very happy and I’m glad they got to speak their mind to. One thing I’ve learned with my 20 years in the county is it doesn’t matter what decision is made, it’s that if people are left out of the decision-making process, they’re not heard, they get angry.”

Hansen said there are several different agencies that have authority over Fire District 12, including the county commissioners, the state auditor’s office, the Washington State Fire Commission, the Secretary of State’s Office, the state Department of Health and the Washington State Archives.

The county Auditor’s Office has limited authority over Mason Fire Protection District 12. The fire district is required by RCW 84.52.020 to “file such certified budget or estimates with the clerk of the county legislative authority on or before the thirtieth day of November.” A fire protection district may adopt a biennial budget with a mid-biennium review and modification for the second year of the biennium, according to RCW 52.16.030.

The county has received adopted budgets from 2014 to 2021, warrant registers from the county financial system, cash disbursement journal and signed vouchers from Mason County Fire Protection District 12, according to a document, and Hansen said the county has provided this information to the state Auditor’s Office. She said the county has had trouble getting in contact with the fire district, similar to the issues the state Auditor’s Office stated at the Nov. 18 meeting. Hansen said the county does speak with the district through email or in-person on a weekly basis.

The Mason County Auditor’s Office Financial Services department works with special purpose districts to accept request for payment vouchers from the district, verify district authorization, print warrants for the district, provide the district with cash disbursement journal and warrant register and provide an annual budget notice.

“We can’t govern them,” Hansen said. “They have their own elected officials. If they fall outside the guidelines of what we’ve asked them to do, for instance, turn in their budget, it was due yesterday, we don’t have it. We usually give them a day or two to get their ducks in a row. If at that time, we don’t have a budget, then we contact the commissioner for their district, we alert them and we contact the commissioner for their district and say ‘Hey, by the way, this district, which is in your area, has not turned in their budget for next year.’ After that, it’s kind of up to the state Auditors to pursue anything or would be up to the county commissioner for that district to contact them and say is there a problem with your budget? Where’s your budget? We don’t have a whole lot of legal authority over them.”

Director of Communications for the state Auditor’s Office Kathleen Cooper said the office does not comment on audits while they are being conducted, but the audit is expected to be completed by Jan. 15.

Shutty said he wasn’t surprised to see the outpouring from the community at the meeting due to their concern for the state of the fire district. Shutty said he has heard concerns dating back about 18 months ago about people trying to get in touch with the fire commission and will wait for the state Audtior’s Office reports to determine what the next steps will be.

“It’s incumbent upon the residents out there to keep track of this stuff, to continue to ask for accountability and transparency in that process and to hold their elected officials accountable,” Shutty said. “The real concern just sort of beyond the nuts and bolts of what may or may not be happening at the fire district level, the threat of that kind of impropriety or the appearance of that kind of impropriety really threatens to undermind all the good work that happens in the other special districts, the junior districts in the county and on up. It feeds that distrust that we’re seeing nationally in government right now and so more than anything, the fire district has a real opportunity to turn the tide in the community and show that they are capable of functioning in an open and transparent way and they’re willing and able to be held accountable under the law as we all are.”