OXFORD COUNTY, Maine — Oxford County sheriff's deputies had a problem at the gas pumps this weekend. They couldn't put gas in their cruisers because their fuel cards weren't working. It wasn't a system error, apparently. It was because the county's bill hadn't been paid.
The county administrator says a recent staffing shortage is to blame, but the Oxford County sheriff says there's a much bigger problem the county needs to deal with.
The Oxford County Sheriff's Office cruisers patrol 2,200 miles, an area one and half times the size of Rhode Island. This past weekend deputies stopping to fill up at the pump ran into a problem.
"We had no access to fuel so i started to fuel the vehicles with my own credit card," said Sheriff Chris Wainwright.
Sheriff Wainwright says he personally filled up about 20 vehicles.
"How many times do you think you can fill up your car before credit card company shuts your card off because of fraud concerns?" he said. "I can tell you. It's 3."
According to County Administrator Tom Winsor, a staffing shortage in December left no one in the finance department. And no one who knew how to navigate the paperwork and payroll.
"It was frightening," Winsor said. "I couldn't imagine the consequences of one day having a fully functioning financial office and less than a week later we have no body to point us in the right direction."
Winsor says with the help from a former business manager, they were able to proceed with payroll, but many bills and vendors were not paid. The fuel cards were one of those bills. "We are still discovering accounts that we know are there, but don't know how to get to them," he said.
Winsor says the experience has been a learning opportunity for him and the other staff. "In the end," he said, "what I hope is the public knows we had a real issue and we're working out way through it in a responsible way."
Wainwright agrees there is a real issue, and it's much bigger problem than just a staffing snafu.
"I was told the reason bills weren't paid is because they have not completed necessary audits," Wainwright said, "required by law to complete audits and haven't closed out books in 2 to 3 years and could not use the computer system to generate purchase orders and cut checks."
Wainwright plans to address his concerns with the county commissioners on Tuesday, Jan. 15.