Wednesday, December 12, 2001
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Wednesday, December 12, 2001 |
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Official: Purchase cards will save county big bucks By DAVE HAMRICK
It cost Fayette County $219.76 to buy a $14.49 thermostat last July, according to a report from the county Finance Department. "This is a much more efficient system and it saves dollars," said Mark Pullium, finance director, in urging the County Commission last week to adopt a pilot program to try out the purchase, or procurement, card system he was recommending. Commissioners unanimously agreed, though some voted for the measure with reservations. "I have reservations," Commissioner Herb Frady told Pullium, "but I'll support it as a pilot program and then help you pick it apart in six months." Representatives of Wachovia, the bank that handles Fayette's accounts, pitched the idea of the P-card to commissioners in October as a means of increasing efficiency and accountability. The purchase cards would be similar to the ATM/debit cards used by many individual bank customers, and will be distributed to key county employees to make purchases that will automatically come out of the county bank account. "It will save you time, money, effort and a whole list of things," said Ingrid Kelly, senior sales officer for Wachovia. Cards like the ones she is proposing, Kelly said, have numerous high-tech controls on them so they can't be easily abused. A county official can be authorized to spend a given amount of money per month, and a different amount per transaction, and the card can be set up to pay for expenditures only in authorized categories, she said. So a worker authorized to purchase only office supplies wouldn't be able to use the card for travel, she said. The cards also could be electronically linked to the county budget, so a department would be forced to stay within prescribed limits, said Kelly, adding that workers would have to keep receipts and those receipts would have to be randomly audited to prevent abuse. Because it eliminates the physical costs of receiving invoices and mailing checks, along with the costs of employees who have to be involved in such transactions, the purchase card can cut the cost of a purchase from an average of $50 - $150 to an average of $15 - $25, she said. During the October meeting, commissioners weren't quite ready to buy the actual estimates, which are industry averages, and asked Pullium to conduct his own study of actual costs to the county. His report said that the average cost of a purchase order as currently handled is $205.27. Using that average, he gave the example of the $14.49 thermostat. The P-card will reduce that cost considerably, Pullium predicted. A limited number of county workers will try the card out for six months and its worth will be evaluated again.
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