Cabinet View opens records

Former members of the Cabinet View Fire Service Area have agreed to allow Lincoln County officials review past records of the now-defunct fire protection area.

The county has been trying for nearly a year to get both a monetary and an equipment assessment of the fire service area.

Former Cabinet View FSA Board members Chairman Bill Clark, Treasurer Susan Rayson and Board Member Robert Mast told Lincoln County Commissioners last week they would allow the county to review past records, specifically Forms 990, which non-profit entities must file with the Internal Revenue Service.

For about 11 months, after Lincoln County Commissioners dissolved the fire service area and the litigation that followed, county officials have sought an account of the organization’s records.

“You can look at our books any time,” Clark told the commissioners during their meeting. “However, this is not an audit.”

Clark, reached at his home after the meeting, said he had been to the Cabinet View firehouse on Luscher Lane and had retrieved the 990 financial records dating back 10 years.

“I told them, ‘we have nothing to hide,’ and I meant it,” Clark said.

Former Cabinet View board member Jeff Koskela said the organization made a mistake when it transferred ownership of several expensive pieces of equipment to Bull Lake Fire District. That equipment needs to be returned, he said.

“Every engine, hose, nozzle, everything should be accounted for,” Koskela said. 

It’s Koskela’s contention that since residents of the area paid taxes into the FSA, that all equipment should remain with the firehouse. Currently, there is a move afoot to create a fire district. 

Clark responded to Koskela explaining the former fire service area received only $36,000 from local taxes each year. 

“Thirty-six-thousand is not enough to run that firehouse,” Clark said, explaining the Cabinet View  Volunteer Fire Department was established as a 501(c)3 so funds could be raised to further fund the fire agency.

Rayson, the treasurer, subsequently explained the establishment of the 501(c)3 enabled the department to raise money under a tax shelter and give those who would contribute a tax credit for giving to a non-profit agency.

“It was the best way to keep tax money separate from donations, fundraisers and money that was raised fighting wildfires,” Rayson said. 

Rayson defended the action, saying it was actually recommended by accountants for clarity of bookkeeping purposes.

However, Koskela said the appearance is wrong.

“The money and equipment needs to be accounted for,” Koskela said.

For their part, Lincoln County Commissioners wanted an accounting of the money and equipment, which Clark and Mast agreed could be achieved now that the fire service area has ended its legal challenge to the dissolution.

Troy Commissioner Ron Downey asked about the intergovernmental transfer of wildfire-fighting vehicles from the former Cabinet View Fire Service Area to Bull Lake Fire District, to which Clark said it was within the rights of the fire department.

“A transfer such as that can be made to and from a non-profit to a government agency, but it cannot go from a government agency to a 501(c)3,” Clark said. “If Bull Lake agrees to transfer those vehicles back to the fire district after it gets established, it can.”

For his part, Clark was not without asking for something from the commissioners, as he sought the approval for two checks drawn from the bank account on which the county Treasurers Office acted as a depository for those funds.

Clark explained two checks, one totaling $500 and another $441.65 were returned because the county promptly closed the account on the day of the fire service area’s dissolution on or about Aug. 8, 2012.

Clark explained those checks were for the fire department’s use of the fire station for meetings and payments due. Both checks totaled $941.65. At the time the checks were written there was $942.91, or would have left a balance of $1.26.

Subsequently, the account now totals $4,599.07, said County Treasurer Nancy Trotter Higgins. Higgins explained even though the fire service area exists no longer, money has been coming into that account from back taxes collected.

Presiding Commissioner Tony Berget said he welcomed the open dialogue with the former Cabinet View officials, but said the intergovernmental transfer of vehicles bothered him.

“It just doesn’t seem right,” Berget said.