News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The Tennessee Comptrollers Office has released a new financial reporting manual to help Volunteer Fire Departments prevent fraud.
The state said although volunteer fire departments provide essential services they are also prone to financial issues. Dodson Branch Volunteer Fire Department Assistant Fire Chief Derek Woolbright said the manual is something that has been long overdue.
“When it comes to volunteer organizations they are a little bit hard to govern and you have a lot of turnover in leadership and then generally things liking,” Woolbright said. “I think they recognized the need where there had been some issues of financial improprieties and issues with just keeping good books.”
Woolbright said 95 percent of the department’s operational budget is money raised through fundraisers. Woolbright said it’s important for the community to know where those funds are going.
“We want to make sure we are getting every penny worth out of that money,” Woolbright said. “I think that this is very useful for volunteer fire departments and rescue squads alike to make sure they are not losing money somewhere and to make sure their communities are not losing assets.”
Woolbright said he hopes the manual will create more trust between the departments and the community.
“It’s an utmost importance to us to make sure that we are being good stewards of our community’s money,” Woolbright said. “We have a great support of our community and we want to make sure that we keep that support and keep that trust by utilizing the funds that they donate.”
Woolbright said Dodson Branch already has a process using an Excel spreadsheet but will use the manual as a reference point. Woolbright said most volunteer fire departments do not typically deal with large amounts of money.
