Oceanside Fire Department keeps money safe, too

The recent events of a retired Glen Cove fire fighter may have left many on Long Island wondering just what fire departments spend donated money on and how safe their donations are. But Oceanside residents should rest assured in the financial oversights of their fire department.

On Sept. 28, former Glen Cove fire fighter George William Gray, 68, currently of Hendersonville, N.C., was arrested and charged with stealing over $196,000 over a six-year period from the department’s general fund, which he was in charge of.

According to the office of Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, Gray would write himself checks, many times forging the signature of the department’s treasurer, and use the money to buy himself things like model trains and expensive cigars. He was charged with 104 counts of criminal possession of a forged instrument and three counts of official misconduct.

The Glen Cove Fire Department discovered accounting irregularities after Gray retired, and alerted Glen Cove Mayor Ralph Suozzi, who in turn alerted the DA’s office.

“Nothing like that can happen here,” said Oceanside Fire Department Chief Robert Sutton. “A lot of the safeguards that you see that Glen Cove is now initiating, we’ve had in effect for years.”

The OFD’s Treasurer and Assistant Treasurer handle all of the money that comes into the department. It is their responsibility to count it, account for it and keep records of donations. They also prepare monthly financial reports for the chiefs that outline how much money came in and how much was spent.

In Glen Cove, it now requires two people to sign a check for it to be authorized, something Oceanside has been doing for years. Of all the many members of the OFD, only four are authorized to sign checks.

The OFD does quarterly internal audits, as well as having annual audits from an outside accounting firm that is hired by the Oceanside Fire District.

“Naturally, [something like this] makes all of us look bad,” said Sutton. “You tell the public why you’re looking for this money, that it’s all going to good causes, and here you use it for personal use. And the other thing that makes you upset is the fact that, in this day and age, there should be more responsibility for oversight.”

The funds the OFD collects goes to funding things within the department. It goes to a “good and welfare” fund within the department, which gives money to sick and injured firefighters, money used for funerals and things of that nature. The money is also used when the department makes donations to community events, and for sponsorship, like the Oceanside Stallions Roller Hockey team the OFD sponsors.

It is also used within each of the six fire houses for things like supplies and food for the firefighters. Any equipment purchases are handled by the district, which is funded from taxpayer money.

“The budget we have is a line-for-line itemized budget that [the district], of course, sees, but there’s nothing there that’s extraordinary or things that wouldn’t be accepted as a natural expense,” said Sutton. “We have lots of oversights in place to prevent anything [like what happened in Glen Cove] from happening.”

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