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Comptroller urges P‑card transparency after withdrawn unauthorized procurement
Summary
After the withdrawal of an unauthorized procurement item paid by a city P‑card, Comptroller Bill Henry pressed city officials for better visibility into P‑card spending, saying current systems leave those purchases out of open checkbook reporting.
Comptroller Bill Henry used the Board of Estimates meeting on June 4 to press for improved transparency in city procurement‑card (P‑card) spending after a withdrawn agenda item for an unauthorized procurement was paid with a P‑card.
Clerk Celeste Amato read that SB25110662, an unauthorized procurement for Mitchell's Blind Shade Company Inc. ($5,170), was withdrawn. Comptroller Henry said the payment was made with a P‑card and warned that, "this is why we really have to come up with a good system... otherwise this is a great big loophole in our overall joint effort to provide openness and transparency into public spending." He said P‑card expenditures currently do not appear in the open checkbook or automatically on Board records.
City Administrator Faith Leach and other administration officials said agencies need the ability to make low‑dollar transactions by P‑card and that requiring board approval for every small purchase would impede operations. Leach also said finance and procurement can work to provide P‑card reports for inclusion in open checkbook. Board members agreed on the utility of P‑cards for small purchases but echoed the comptroller’s call for better reporting.
The unauthorized procurement item was withdrawn by the agency; the comptroller and finance staff said they will pursue improving systems so P‑card transactions are visible to oversight offices and the public.
