DE creates task force to minimize fraud amongst volunteer fire companies
Being a firefighter is no easy job, especially in Delaware, where everywhere except Wilmington is served by volunteer fire companies. Due to recent mismanagement inside a few Delaware volunteer fire companies, the state is now stepping in in the hopes of fixing that.
“If you attempt to do fraud, we’ll catch you and there will be consequences to it,” says Tom Wagner, the auditor for the state of Delaware.
Wagner is part of a new task force created by the Delaware General Assembly that aims to minimize fraud in local fire companies. For example, in Sussex County, a former treasurer of the Millville Volunteer Fire Company allegedly stole more than $190, 000.
“Which is an embarrassment to the fire companies who have their employees all good and dedicated and you have one bad apple if you would could create a little bit of chaos and we want to make sure that doesn’t happen to the future,” says Wagner.
Currently there are no regulations on how a fire company should manage their finances , and lawmakers say this makes them vulnerable to mismanagement.
“We have larger fire companies that I would consider are extremely well financially managed. And we have fire companies that operate more like a mom and pop business,” says Wagner.
The task force was created to examine all current procedures and recommend ways to fix any problems and it’s not only made up of elected officials.
“Four members from the general assembly, members from the fire service, the Delaware fire commission, myself, the comptroller general. It’s the key people and the right people to have on there,” says Wagner.
The task force will be turning in any recommendations is has to the General Assembly by the end of January 2017.
47 ABC also reached out to Millville Volunteer Fire Company, and a spokesperson says they hope that workshops and guidelines do come out of this task force. The first task force meeting will be take place Wednesday at Legislative Hall in Dover, and they are open to the public. Wagner says there are still many more to come.
