REPORT DIGEST

OFFICE OF THE STATE FIRE MARSHAL

STATE COMPLIANCE EXAMINATION
FOR THE TWO YEARS ENDED JUNE 30, 2022

Release Date:  December 21, 2023

FINDINGS THIS AUDIT: 23

CATEGORY:  NEW -- REPEAT -- TOTAL
Category 1:  3 -- 6 -- 9
Category 2:  6 -- 8 -- 14
Category 3:  0 -- 0 -- 0
TOTAL:  9 – 14 -- 23

FINDINGS LAST AUDIT: 21

Category 1: Findings that are material
weaknesses in internal control and/or a
qualification on compliance with State laws
and regulations (material noncompliance).
Category 2: Findings that are significant
deficiencies in internal control and
noncompliance with State laws and
regulations.
Category 3: Findings that have no internal
control issues but are in noncompliance
with State laws and regulations.

State of Illinois, Office of the Auditor
General
FRANK J. MAUTINO, AUDITOR GENERAL

To obtain a copy of the Report contact:
Office of the Auditor General, Iles Park
Plaza, 740 E. Ash Street, Springfield, IL
62703
(217) 782-6046 or TTY (888) 261-2887

This Report Digest and Full Report are also
available on the worldwide web at
www.auditor.illinois.gov



SYNOPSIS

• (22-01) The Office did not establish and
maintain a Statewide Arsonist Database or
make such database available to the public
via its website as required by the Arsonist
Registration Act.
• (22-02) The Office did not exercise
adequate controls over its collection of
fees and accounts receivable.
• (22-03) The Office did not perform all
inspections of public schools or always
report identified violations to the
regional superintendents.
• (22-04) The Office did not have
interagency agreements with the Department
of Public Health to ensure fire safety
inspections were being performed to comply
with licensing requirements for various
facilities.

FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS

FAILURE TO ESTABLISH AND MAINTAIN A
STATEWIDE ARSONIST DATABASE

The Office of the State Fire Marshal
(Office) did not establish and maintain a
Statewide Arsonist Database or make such
database available to the public via its
website as required by the Arsonist
Registration Act (Act).  The Act requires
the Department of State Police to furnish
to the Office the registration information
concerning persons who are required to
register under the Act.  Then, the Office
is to establish and maintain a Statewide
Arsonist Database for the purpose of making
that information available to the public on
the Internet by means of a hyperlink
labeled “Arsonist Information” on the
Office’s website (Finding 1, page 11).
This finding has been reported since 2016.

We recommended the Office work with the
Department of State Police to obtain
arsonist registration information and
create a hyperlink/database that can be
published and made available for the public
via the Office’s website, or seek a
legislative remedy.

The Office accepted the finding.  In its
formal response, the Office noted the
Department of State Police is required to
provide the Office with registration
information of persons who are required to
register under the Act, and the Office
noted this information is not currently
being collected by the Department of State
Police nor being sent to the Office.

INADEQUATE CONTROLS OVER FEES AND ACCOUNTS
RECEIVABLE

The Office did not exercise adequate
controls over its collection of fees and
accounts receivable as follows:

• During review of the Office’s process for
collecting inspection fees for boilers and
pressure vessels, we noted the Office
lacked an adequate process for identifying
the party responsible for paying the fee.
The Office has three ways for triggering an
inspection by the Office, each of which
lacked a process to gather all information
needed to collect on the resulting account
receivable, such as the identity of the
responsible party and its corresponding
taxpayer identification number.  Then, when
the actual inspection occurs, the Office’s
inspector only confirms the mailing address
and, if the person providing the inspector
access to the boiler is willing to provide
it, the e-mail address for the entity that
pays the building’s costs.  After the
inspection, the Office sends an invoice to
the address confirmed by the inspector and,
if the amount is not timely paid, the
Office sends quarterly statements demanding
payment.  Under this process, the Office
does not gather enough information to
establish and collect each account
receivable as established by the Illinois
State Collection Act of 1986.  The Illinois
State Collection Act of 1986 (30 ILCS
210/5(c-1) an (g)) requires the referral of
all debts of $250 or more and 90 days past
due to the Office of Comptroller’s Offset
System and the referral of all delinquent
debt to the Department of Revenue’s Debt
Collection Bureau (Bureau).

• For all remaining fees, the Office did
not refer any of its delinquent accounts
receivable to the Bureau.

On its June 30, 2022 accounts receivable
reports, the Office reported receivables
totaling $11.812 million, including $11.638
million reported as more than 90 days past
due (Finding 2, pages 12-14).  This finding
has been reported since 2018.

We recommended the Office implement
controls to obtain sufficient information
about responsible parties to enable the
collections of accounts receivable, or seek
a legislative remedy to require up-front
payment for an inspection at the time when
an inspection is scheduled.  Further, we
recommended the Office refer qualifying
debt to the Bureau for external collection
efforts.

The Office agreed with the finding, noting
they often face issues in identifying which
party maintains ultimate responsibility for
a boiler or pressure vessel.  The Office
also pointed to a lack of authority per
State statute or administrative rule to
mandate collection of a TIN, and without
this information, the Office faces
difficulty in filing an offset or engaging
in other collection methods for delinquent
invoices.

FAILURE TO PERFORM SCHOOL FIRE INSPECTIONS
OR REPORT VIOLATIONS

The Office did not perform all inspections
of public schools or always report
identified violations to the regional
superintendent of schools (superintendent)
as follows:

• The Office did not perform annual fire
safety inspections of each public school
within the State.  We noted 807 of 3,420
(24%) and 185 of 3,393 (5%) schools were
not inspected during Fiscal Year 2021 and
Fiscal Year 2022, respectively.

• The Office did not have sufficient
controls in place to ensure violations
identified during school inspections
performed by qualified fire officials to
whom the Office delegated its authority
during the examination period were sent to
the superintendent within 15 days of the
completed inspection.  In cases where local
fire departments performed the necessary
inspections, the Office relied on the local
fire department to communicate the noted
violations to the regional superintendent
of schools, and the Office did not receive
documentation to substantiate such
communication had occurred in all
instances.

• Fifty-four of 60 (90%) sample inspections
of public schools conducted by the Office
or a qualified official to whom the Office
had delegated its authority during the
examination period contained violations
noted by the inspector.  For those 54
inspections containing violations, we noted
8 (15%) reports with violations did not
have evidence the report had been submitted
to the superintendent, and 1 (2%) report
with violations was reported to the
superintendent 2 days late.

• The Office was unable to provide
supporting documentation for 1 of 60 (2%)
inspections performed (Finding 3, pages
15-17).

This finding has been reported since 2018.

We recommended the Office work with the
Governor and General Assembly to ensure
sufficient resources exist to timely
conduct public school building inspections.
In addition, we recommended the Office
enhance its internal controls to provide
assurance violation reports were timely
sent to the school’s applicable
superintendent, and the Office should
ensure copies of all inspections performed
are retained.

The Office agreed with the finding and
noted they have implemented a new internal
procedure to ensure all public schools are
inspected annually and achieved 100%
compliance during the last school year.
The Office also pointed to other corrective
action in progress to address the remaining
conditions identified.

LACK OF INTERAGENCY AGREEMENTS WITH THE
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH

The Office did not have interagency
agreements with the Department of Public
Health to ensure fire safety inspections
were being performed to comply with
licensing requirements for various
facilities.

The following statutes (collectively, the
Acts) require the Office to perform
necessary fire inspections of various
facilities to comply with licensing
requirements:

• Community Living Facilities Act (210 ILCS
35/8.5),
• MC/DD Act (210 ILCS 46/3-216), and
• ID/DD Community Care Act (210 ILCS
47/3-216).

In addition, the Acts indicate the Office
may enter into an agreement with another
State agency to conduct fire safety
inspections if qualified personnel are
employed by the agency.

Our testing indicated the Office did not
enter into formal interagency agreements
with the Department of Public Health to
ensure the required fire safety inspections
were being performed by qualified
personnel.  As a result, we could not
conclude if the Office performed any
inspections of the facilities licensed
under the Acts (Finding 4, pages 18-19).

We recommended the Office work with the
Department of Public Health to formally
reduce the agreements to perform
inspections on the Office’s behalf to
writing.

The Office agreed with the finding and
noted they will continue their efforts to
work with the Department of Public Health
to enter into a formalized agreement
outlining each party’s responsibilities

OTHER FINDINGS

The remaining findings pertain to
inadequate controls over information
technology functions, State vehicles,
monthly reconciliations, State property,
receipts, and grant agreements;
noncompliance with an interagency
agreement; and multiple instances of
noncompliance with statutory mandates.  We
will review the Office’s progress towards
the implementation of our recommendations
in our next State compliance examination.

ACCOUNTANT’S OPINION

The accountants conducted a State
compliance examination of the Office for
the two years ended June 30, 2022, as
required by the Illinois State Auditing
Act.  The accountants qualified their
report on State compliance for Findings
2022-001 through 2022-009.  Except for the
noncompliance described in those findings,
the accountants stated the Office complied,
in all material respects, with the
requirements described in the report.

This State compliance examination was
conducted by the Office of the Auditor
General’s staff.

JANE CLARK
Division Director

This report is transmitted in accordance
with Section 3-14 of the Illinois State
Auditing Act.

FRANK J. MAUTINO
Auditor General

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