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credit cards
A story in today’s edition shows that the county has 112 credit cards used by its 500-plus employees.
That’s too many, and a lack of oversight resulted in more than $3,000 in late fees and bank charges in the 22-month period the paper examined.
Compared to the entire county budget, $3,000 isn’t a huge amount of money, but it’s wasted taxpayer dollars nonetheless. That’s the problem with a big organization like county government – $3,000 here, $50 there, $1,200 here. All these eventually add up to big numbers. The county says it’s working to get control of the credit card situation. The process began after our investigation started.
Another disconcerting aspect of this policy is that employees aren’t required to get a purchase order for items until the purchase reaches a threshold of $500. It was once $200.
With so many county credit cards in circulation, there are bound to be problems. Accounting has got to be a nightmare, a fact proven by the $3,000 in late charges and fees.
Credit cards have become a popular method of payment for consumers. Convenience is one reason why.
Credit cards may be convenient for consumers, but when plastic is scattered hither and yonder in business and government, abuses and lack of oversight are bound to occur.
It’s happened here.