Staff raises concerns about county credit-card charges, asks commissioners to tighten purchasing policy
Loading...
Summary
At the Oct. 1 Buchanan Board of Commissioners work session, a county staff member reported questionable credit-card charges, including a $3,200 promotional-items purchase bearing a personal name, and asked the board to require repayment and update purchasing rules to cover credit-card use and approvals.
A county staff member told the Buchanan Board of Commissioners at its Oct. 1 work session that recent credit-card use by county departments has produced “questionable charges” and urged the board to add explicit credit-card rules to the county purchasing policy.
The staff member said the district attorney’s office had recorded multiple questionable charges in the past two months, including two Starbucks purchases and a $3,200 promotional-items order for compact mirrors, pens, post-it notes, stress balls, lip balm, koozies, sanitizer sprays and stapling cups. The staff member said those promotional items “have his personal name on them” and that the items appear to promote an individual more than the office.
The staff member asked the board to require repayment and to change the purchasing policy immediately to specify what credit-card purchases are allowed and what approvals are needed. “I think that they should repay the taxpayers,” the staff member said. The staff member added that the purchaser had not repaid the county as of the meeting.
The staff member also said other departments used the county credit card to make purchases over $2,500 without following required purchasing procedures and emphasized that “using a credit card purchase does not mean that the department can avoid our policy limits.” The staff member asked the board to add rules restricting purchases such as promotional items with personal names and ticket purchases for networking events.
No formal motion or vote on repayment or policy changes was recorded during the session. The staff member said they had asked the board for its thoughts and had not yet received a response.
The meeting record shows the concern was raised during the department reports segment of the work session and that the matter was listed among items that may require follow-up by the board or staff. The session proceeded to other business and an announced executive session on contract negotiations and litigation.
