10 On Your Side Researches City, County Issued Credit Cards

By Scott Leamon
WSLS10 Reporter
Published: February 25, 2008

  10 On Your Side studied audit procedures and city/county employee credit cards at four of the largest localities in Southwest and Central Virginia.

  Our research found the city of Lynchburg issued the most credit cards to city employees and elected council members.

  Of the city’s 1,172 employees, 739 have been issued credit cards.

  That’s about 68 percent of the total number of employees.

  Of course, as our research will later show in other municipalities, that does not mean all those cards are being used on a regular basis.

  Lynchburg also does internal audits of employees and council members using credit cards.

  Lynchburg city administrators said they did not plan any procedural changes due to the Alfred Dowe situation in Roanoke.

  The city of Danville’s financial administrator told us her office will be revisiting policies dealing with employee and council credit cards after watching and reading about news of the Dowe fiasco.

  As did administrators in Roanoke County where about 26 percent of its employees carry county-issued credit cards.

  Of the county’s 1,171 employees, 301 have credit cards.

  A statistic provided by the county however revealed it only receives an average of 190 statements each month, meaning more than 100 credit cards are not being used at different times.

  The county conducts about 20 random audits of employees every month.

  The county’s financial director said she may explore increasing the number of audits and review procedures dealing with credit cards.

  Elected members of the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors do not carry county-issued credit cards.

  Constitutional officers in the county, such as the Sheriff, Commissioner of the Revenue, etc., do carry cards.

  About 39-percent of employees who work for Roanoke City carry credit cards.

  Of the city’s roughly 1,800 employees, about 700 are issued credit cards.

  A statistic provided by the city showed it averages receiving about 350 statements every month, again revealing far fewer of the cards are actually being used.

  All financial directors and auditors 10 On Your Side spoke with for this story agreed credit cards do more good than harm as far as saving taxpayer money.

  Directors pointed to benefits such as cutting bureacratic red tape, fewer man hours managing purchases, and annual rebates in the tens of thousands of dollars.
  Roanoke city auditors are currently reviewing city council credit card statements but not employees.

  All employees are audited on a yearly basis.

  It is important to remember Dowe is not connected in any way with governments in Danville, Lynchburg, and Roanoke County.