While Augusta does not have a credit card policy, it does have a policy for P-Cards, or procurement cards that are a type of credit card issued that is used to make purchases for city offices and departments.
Richmond County’s committee meetings on June 8 included a review of the cities purchase card or “P-Card” and credit card policy. The P-Card policy has been in place since March 2016; however the city has no credit card policy to regulate spending.
That policy is similar to those of two other Georgia cities, Dunwoody and Athens.
The main difference between Augusta’s P-Card policy and those of the other two cities is that Athens uses the same policy for credit cards and P-Cards, and Dunwoody doesn’t use credit cards.
Augusta’s policy only applies to P-Cards, though commissioners asked City Administrator Odie Donald at their June 8 meeting to begin working on developing a policy to govern use of city credit cards.
The Augusta P-Card policy lists prohibited purchases that include anything for personal non-work-related use, data plans, software or apps and alcoholic beverages and food for consumption by Augusta employees, unless for a “group meal.”
Mayor Davis’s credit card statements indicate multiple software subscriptions, newspaper subscriptions, including two subscriptions to The Augusta Press (One for the mayor and One for his chief of staff Petula Burks), multiple non-group meals and two charges to Jose Cuervo a bar and restaurant in the Charlotte Airport.
Open records requests for receipts of many of those charges have not been provided to date.
According to the Athens policy, state law governs all transactions whether credit card or P-Card. Samuel S. Olens, Partner with Dentons law firm in Atlanta and former Attorney General of Ga, also agreed that state law does govern all transactions whether they are charged to a credit card or purchased with a P-Card.
Athens Credit Card/P-Card Policy
Athens’ credit card policy indicates the Treasurer works closely with the county finance director who administers the policy but must follow O.C.G.A 16-9-37 and 36-80-24, as well as any procurement ordinances and policies.
The Athens policy also requires “internal controls, audits and other measures to prevent and detect misuse or abuse of the cards,” according to the first page of the policy.
Describing both credit and P-cards, the policy says the cards are not to be used for goods or services not related to official responsibilities or to avoid compliance with the counties purchasing ordinances and procedures.
“Receipts, invoices and other supporting document of all purchasers made with a county purchasing or credit card shall be maintained by the authorized county elected official for five years,” according to Athens policy.
All records are subject to the Georgia Open Records Act, according to the policy.
Annual audits by the finance department are required.
The city of Dunwoody in Dekalb County has a very robust P-Card policy; however, they do not use credit cards of any type. All card purchasers are done through P-Cards.
Violations of Dunwoody, Athens and Augusta’s policy are to be dealt with strongly, according to each city’s policy.
Dunwoody even requires elected officials to reimburse the county for any purchases in violation of the policy and states that prosecution can be pursued.
Dunwoody’s training module section VII’s first section on violations states, “Cardholders or supervisors/approving officials who knowingly, or through willful neglect, fail to comply with the following may be subject to suspension or termination of card privileges or other disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment and criminal prosecution to the fullest extent of the law.”
The Augusta commission is set to discuss the matter on June 15.
Current credit card holders for Augusta include the clerk of the commission, marshal, sheriff, airport, district attorney and mayor, according to the city finance department. Elected officials are not authorized to use city P-Cards.
P-Cards require strict documentation according to the cities policy. Finance Director Donna Williams told commissioners Tuesday though that by the time the credit card bill comes in the obligation has been incurred.
Williams also indicated that receipts for charges are requested.
Mayor Hardie Davis’ office has come under scrutiny for its credit card spending in recent months and failure to provide documentation for the charges despite multiple open records requests. Mayor Davis’ office has not used a P-Card since February 2020 when cardholder Marcus Campbell left.
A review of the mayors P-Card spending prior to 2020 shows very few charges compared to the credit card, which has averaged over $30,000 per year or $2,500 per month in charges. The first five months of 2021 indicate a spike on the mayors credit card spending of over $10,000 per month, an increase of nearly 400% over previous years. Many of the charges are being spent on websites, video production and editing and photography but it remains unclear how those charges are related specifically to the city of Augusta or the mayors role serving the city.
When questioned earlier this year about the mayors spending, Chief of Staff Petula Burks indicated that she was going to fix things moving forward but could not speak to charges prior to her being hired in September. Since September, though, spending on the mayors credit card has drastically increased, and the P-Card has not been used one time according to records obtained through open records requests.
In March, Burks indicated she had reviewed and read the county’s policy on credit card spending; however, Tuesday’s committee meeting indicated no such policy exists.
Burks did not specify whether she was referring to the P-Card policy when she indicated she had read the county’s policy on credit card spending. Burks left her last job in Miami-Gardens Florida with a cloud hanging over her related to P-Card charges.
Burks indicated in an email that receipts on all P-Card charges were provided to Miami-Gardens. Open records requests filed show that the finance department had to harass Burks for weeks to provide receipts for over $10,000 of charges some of which included PayPal. Several receipts were never provided and one P-Card charge that occurred at a bar for $386.08 Burks had to reimburse to the city.
