An independant investigation in to the spending of the Barlow Creek Fire Protection Service has come to the same conclusions as a prior, in-house investigation.
PMT Chartered Professional Accountants LLP was hired by the Cariboo Regional District to look in to the department’s 2016-2017 spending.
While the review found that the expenses were typical for a fire department, they were in much higher quantities and on a much shorter timeline than the budget allowed.
These findings mirror those of the CRD, which led to a 30 percent tax increase in 2018, and a 2 percent increase each year from 2019-2023.
Working with the province, the CRD allowed the increases to be split across 5 years to make it as manageable as possible.
They are also working to improve administrative oversight of fire departments to prevent a repeat incident in the future.
