Millions in tax dollars misspent by Yonkers firefighters union

[Viper 139]

Quote

 

Tax Watch columnist David McKay Wilson uncovered the little-known two-percent fund that Yonkers Fire Department has been misspending for decades.

 

The Yonkers firefighters union has spent more than $10 million in state taxpayer funds over the past five decades in violation of state law.

 

 

http://www.lohud.com/story/news/2017/07/06/tax-watch-yonkers-firefighters/451321001/

[fire patrol nyc 153]

Don't believe i would trust the state or the city to administer the funds what's your opinion???

[dwcfireman 656]

21 hours ago, fire patrol nyc said:

Don't believe i would trust the state or the city to administer the funds what's your opinion???

 

They already do administer the funds.  The way it works is that the 2% funding is initially collected by the NYS Insurance Department(Insurance Law, Section 2118) (I would also like to indicate that this same law gives the State Comptroller's Office full authority to audit all fire department, district, and company treasury departments).  From there, the NYSID distributes the funds to the department/district, who in turn distribute it to the company(ies).  For the sake of this explanation, as both paid and volunteer fire departments receive 2% funding, labor unions representing firefighters and fire officers are considered fire companies.

 

Now, the issue at hand about how to appropriately spend these funds is detailed in Sections 9104 and 9105 of the State Insurance Law.  Essentially, these sections state that the money must be spent FOR the firefighters and their families, such as to provide food and refreshments after drills and meetings, parades, and picnics; fire department tee shirts, jackets, and other apparel; furniture, air conditioning, and entertainment for firefighters at the fire house; annual awards banquets and holiday parties for fire company members; and radio receiving devices (pagers).  The list for what you CANNOT spend the money on is just as long, which includes paying for training courses, fire prevention, medical leave/benefits (although there is a caveat on that which I'll explain below), assisting disaster survivors, and paying for delegates to attend conferences/conventions.

 

The caveat with medical leave and benefits can be legal if, and only if, the company has been approved legislatively for the funds to go to a benevolent association, in which then the money can be used to reimburse firefighters for medical expenses that they paid for out of pocket.

 

This above information can be found at the below links:

FASNY: https://www.fasny.com/pdfs/redhandbook.pdf

NYS Department of Financial Services: http://www.dfs.ny.gov/insurance/faqs/faqs_ft_fft.htm

 

For more information about the legality of the collection and distribution of funds, you can also visit http://www.dfs.ny.gov/insurance/ogco2007/rg070522.htm (this is another page from the NYS Department of Financial Services that includes the names of court cases to direct you to certain laws and court decisions that have created the current foreign insurance program).

 

AND, if you fear that the State Comptroller is going to investigate your fire company next (don't worry, they'll get to you eventually  ), here's the link to the Office of the NYS Comptroller: http://osc.state.ny.us/localgov/firedist/faq.htm.  This site provides all of the information that you need to better manage your company's funds, prepare for an audit, and how to fix your financial problems.

 

Don't sit around and wait.  Be proactive and prevent your department/company from being the next news headline.

[fire patrol nyc 153]

The mayor refers to the money as "Taxpayer money"...the 2% money is tax money collected from the insurance industry...not the taxpayers of New York State....

[somebuffyguy 190]

1 hour ago, fire patrol nyc said:

The mayor refers to the money as "Taxpayer money"...the 2% money is tax money collected from the insurance industry...not the taxpayers of New York State....

And where do you think the insurance companies get that money from, Narnia? The cost is paid by the property owners paying their insurance.

[robert benz 344]

11 hours ago, somebuffyguy said:

And where do you think the insurance companies get that money from, Narnia? The cost is paid by the property owners paying their insurance.

If there wasn't a 2% tax, would the "taxpayer" have any say on what the insurance companies did with their money, once they pay their bill?

[Dinosaur 844]

This is not unique to Yonkers.  Where does all the 2% money go everywhere else????
 

 

[dwcfireman 656]

On 7/15/2017 at 11:58 PM, Dinosaur said:

This is not unique to Yonkers.  Where does all the 2% money go everywhere else????
 

 

 

The majority of departments spend the 2% funding wisely and within the guidelines of the NYS Insurance Law (refer to my previous post).  Unfortunately, it's not common knowledge as to what is appropriate to spend the money on as prescribed by the law.  I will admit, partly due to this article, I really didn't understand the measures of the 2% funding until I did some research on it.  Still, some of the language is a bit vague and left up to interpretation, so I can see where the law is misinterpreted when it states that the money is to be spent on "the firefighters and their families."

 

This issue, if I recall correctly, recently came up with the Hartsdale FD.  I believe it's a similar situation where the law was interpreted or unknown to the company's financial directors, and there were questions about how the money was being spent.