Mount Sinai Fire District officials unnecessarily raised taxes more than 4 percent over a four-year period after overestimating expenditures by more than $300,000, state auditors said in a report released last week.
The district, which runs business operations for the fire department, also failed to seek bids for about $27,000 worth of purchases, the office of state Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli said in the report released Wednesday.
In a written response to the comptroller's office, Joseph Tacopina, chairman of the Mount Sinai board of fire commissioners, said the district had made changes to its accounting methods and in the way it seeks bids for goods and services. In an email, Tacopina said the overestimates occurred in part because of fluctuating costs for fuel and other expenses.