September 08, 2010
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Keeping Tight Control On California's Credit Cards, Pt.2
Overall, a job well done.The Desert Sun learned that Palm Springs, California had at one time 81 credit cards issued to city employees. However, since the release of the Indio story, Palm Springs had reduced that number to 68 credit cards. After the Sun began to dig further, the city reduced its card accounts even further to 13 and has completed a thorough review of its credit card policies. As a result, the City Council adopted a new card policy which is aimed at reducing oversights and providing clearer rules for card employees.
In Indian Wells, there were 9 credit cards issued to employees. Although most of the card transactions appeared to be appropriate for business reasons, there were a number of large transactions ranging from $4,796.92 to $32,783.12. These charges included travel, dinners, marketing events and general supplies. There was also $6,450 for Dodgers tickets in May 2008, $5,000 at Sutra Lounge in Costa Mesa and $3,468.58 at Stingaree restaurant in San Diego, both in October 2008. According to the Director of Marketing and Community Relations, these large credit card charges were part of a "sales mission" in joint with hotels and the Indian Wells Golf Resort. The city has since eliminated such "sales missions" from its spending.
With the least amount of credit cards, Desert Hot Springs wins the prize for having only one card issued. According to Laura Green, a spokesperson for the city, the card is for the exclusive use for travel and supplies. Desert Hot Springs card transactions ranged from $681.99 to $12,722. As Ms Green says, when there is only one card to keep track of, it is easy to manage. Overall, the rest of the Valley cities were doing a good job of managing card accounts. The Desert Sun's report found none of the cities had close to the number of questionable transactions as Indio had and the majority of the cities had less than four employee issued cards