nothin Credit Card Charges To Get ‘Real-Time’ Review | New Haven Independent

Credit Card Charges To Get Real-Time’ Review

Markeshia Ricks Photo

Harp at City Hall Tuesday.

The recent unauthorized use of a city credit card has prompted the Harp administration to use technology to keep a closer eye on who is charging what.

Mayor Toni Harp was joined by her budget and finance team at City Hall Tuesday to announce that the city is now using real-time electronic monitoring of the credit cards issued to seven people in her administration. Three of those cardholders were present Tuesday: the mayor, City Controller Daryl Jones, and Purchasing Agent Michael Fumiatti.

Other card holders include the mayoral deputy chief of staff, the human resources and benefits manager, the deputy information and technology director, and the carousel events coordinator for the parks and recreations department.

A veteran government employee was fired last month after a routine audit of the monthly credit card statement revealed over $11,000 in unauthorized charges to a city credit card. Harp said Tuesday that the audit prompted an internal review of how city-issued credit cards are protected and billing statements reviewed. (Read here about a future Board of Alders review.)

The unauthorized charges were discovered during a routine audit that showed that $11,088.15 in charges were made for room and board at a local motel, mostly during the month of July. The charges were made on a card issued to Mayoral Deputy Chief of Staff Patti Lawlor, who was out on sick leave and could not have made the charges.

Harp said she couldn’t discuss the incident because it remains under police investigation, but she emphasized that the unauthorized use was an isolated occurrence” and that it was discovered in a timely fashion using review procedures the city already has in place.”

But it did prompt the city to begin using real-time monitoring of card usage and billing statements as an extra layer of scrutiny to ensure that every single credit card charge is appropriately authorized and accurately audited,” she said.

Jones.

The credit cards are used as part of a statewide purchasing card, or P‑Card, program provided by the state Department of Administrative Services and administered by J.P. Morgan Chase. The city is one of 21 participating municipalities in the program. New Haven has been part of the program since 2012, said Controller Jones. He noted that New Haven has the distinction of having spent the most through the program. In 2017, the city spent about $2 million, half of which was for one of the city’s print management programs, a bill that is over $1 million, he said.

But Jones was quick to point out that the program requires that the city pay its credit card bills in full every month so that it accrues no interest charges. There is a rebate component to the program, and the city has received about $90,000 back over the last four years, Jones said. He estimates that by the end of 2018, the city could earn at least another $20,000 in rebate money that will go directly to a miscellaneous line item in the current budget.

Gormany

Budget Director Michael Gormany said that the city isn’t using the credit cards to spend money it doesn’t have, but as a more streamlined way to pay for that which has already been budgeted. Jones added that the city accrues soft dollar savings” by not issuing checks and generally being more efficient.

Gormany said in addition to reducing the number of individual checks the city writes, the purchasing card program allows the city to avoid delayed payments to vendors and ensures that individual charges are applied to the appropriate city department and covered by the appropriate budget line for that department.

We are increasingly using the P‑card account for big-ticket expenses like utilities and we’re increasingly eligible for rebates that amount to tens of thousands of dollars,” he said. But there are no additional charges to the taxpayers. These are all charges already budgeted within the budget.”

Fumiatti

City Purchasing Agent Fumiatti said each of the aforementioned department heads is issued a card in their name and they are responsible for keeping it safe and secure. Lawlor’s original card was canceled and she has been issued a new one. What cardholders have now that they didn’t before is individual access to the J.P. Morgan website so that they can review their account status. Also, administration officials like Controller Jones and the city’s chief administrative officer have access and can review charges at any time.

We are actually going to utilize an even more robust program that is provided to us as one of the largest users in the state,” Fumiatti said. The bills are secure and electronic and they come in a timely fashion so they can be reviewed and appropriately charged. With that said, all of the city’s procurement policies and procedures must be followed as if officials were buying anything else for any other means.

It’s meant to be more efficient, but not a shortcut,” Fumiatti added.

Gormany said thanks to the fraud protection that comes with the program, the city has already recovered $9,000 of the $11,000 and Jones said the city expects to get the rest back.

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