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Commission reviews proposed updates to P-card, phone, travel and fleet policies; no final votes
Summary
Commission staff proposed changes to departmental purchasing cards, cell-phone allowances, mileage/per diem rules, take-home vehicle radius and purchasing thresholds at the June 2 work session. Commissioners asked for more training and directed staff to return with wording and implementation details.
At the June 2 Davis County Commission work session, Controller Scott Park presented a series of administrative policy updates for commissioner review, covering departmental purchasing cards (P-cards), cell-phone allowances, transportation reimbursement, take-home vehicle rules for law enforcement and procurement thresholds.
Park proposed allowing departmental P-cards assigned to a custodian rather than named users so infrequent users could check out a card under tight controls. He said the custodian would remain responsible for card charges and departments would implement check-out procedures. Park said the change aims to reduce the number of rarely used individual P-cards while keeping audit and tracking controls.
On cell phones, staff proposed rolling existing taxable phone allowances into base compensation for employees who don’t meet the IRS’s narrow business-use test, and limiting a nontaxable phone reimbursement to a small group whose duties require constant availability (for example, on-call public works employees). Park said the county would aim to follow IRS guidance so the nontaxable reimbursement remains compliant. Commissioners asked about part-time employees, whether the county should provide devices for core duties, and raised concerns about fairness.
Travel and per diem changes were reviewed next. Park said the county currently recognizes three travel categories (mileage reimbursement, a vehicle allowance for regular travel up to a set mileage, and county-assigned vehicles) and illustrated an example trip to St. George to show the cost implications of mileage rates versus car rental and fuel. Staff proposed clarifying that single-day travel without an overnight stay does not qualify for per diem (per IRS rules) and that meals included with conference registration reduce any per diem paid.
Park also relayed a sheriff’s request to expand the take-home vehicle radius from 25 miles to 35 miles beyond the county border; he said only a small number of employees appeared affected and that commissioners should treat this as a policy decision. For procurement, Park proposed raising the threshold for requiring three formal quotes to $15,000 and adding an anti-aggregation rule capping aggregated informal purchases at $50,000 per year to prevent splitting purchases to avoid procurement thresholds.
Commissioners and staff urged caution: several members said grants and related reporting can create significant administrative overhead and recommended training before expanding grant pursuit. One commissioner suggested a knowledge group or grant-coordination team to vet grant opportunities and track reporting obligations. No votes were taken; Park said staff will provide revised wording, examples and training plans for future review.
