The coronavirus has affected most organizations in some way, including the Saxonburg Volunteer Fire Department.

The department's relief association received a notification from the office of state Auditor General Timothy DeFoor that the most recent audit of the fire department resulted in two findings.

A “finding” is a matter discovered by the auditor that must be corrected.

Some findings, if not corrected, can result in the loss of state funding for that fire department.

The auditor's two findings in Saxonburg were inappropriate ownership of a rescue vehicle and failure to maintain a complete and accurate equipment roster.

The audit's term was Jan. 1, 2018, to Dec. 31, 2020.

Chuck Lewis, president of the Saxonburg Volunteer Firefighters Relief Association, explained that the relief association bought a rescue vehicle in 2010.

The association turned to the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Association (PEMA) for a low-interest loan, but was told PEMA cannot provide a loan to a relief association.

So an agreement was created to name the Saxonburg Volunteer Fire Department as the holder of the loan, with the title to be switched to the relief association once the loan was paid off.

During the pandemic, PEMA decided to postpone three or four monthly payments as a courtesy to loan holders struggling to make payments due to the financial impact of COVID-19.

The finding on the relief association audit was the result of that payment postponement because the vehicle's title was not clear on the date listed with the state.

Lewis said the title was cleared on Monday.

“Now that we have the clear title, we are in the process of changing it to make it relief association only to satisfy the audit requirement,” he said.

He said the auditor knew that the PEMA delay in payments was the cause of the situation, but explained to Lewis that they were still required to list it as a finding.

Lewis said the relief association is now waiting for the state to record the title as cleared.

Had the finding not been corrected, the state could have withheld the funding it provides to the relief association for the fire department's budget.

“We're being as timely as we can be,” Lewis said. “When we received the clear title, within two days we started doing title transfers.”

Regarding the equipment-related finding, Lewis said some of the minor equipment listed with the state as owned by the relief association did not match up with the equipment the auditor found at the fire station.

Lewis said the items might have been discarded or destroyed at a fire or rescue scene.

The relief association is required to update the fire department's capital assets with the state, he said.

That finding does not jeopardize state funding, Lewis said.

Lewis said the relief association received between $35,000 and $45,000 in state funding last year.

“It's unfortunate timing, but it's an administrative problem we just have to solve so we're getting it taken care of to make everything right,” he said.

A news release from DeFoor said this year, $54 million went to 2,517 municipalities for distribution to volunteer firefighters relief associations to provide training, purchase equipment and insurance, and pay for death benefits for volunteer firefighters.