Montgomery County taxpayers paid for gifts between county employees, flowers for employees’ personal use and clothing, according to an audit released Tuesday.
The report by county Inspector General Edward Blansitt examined the use of county-issued credit cards in the Office of Human Rights, which investigates discrimination complaints and runs educational programs that promote equal rights. Blansitt found that of 508 transactions totaling $72,487 between September 2008 and Sept. 27, 2010, 221 of them — 45 percent — accounting for $29,310 were questionable.
Two employees were responsible for $14,461, nearly half of the questionable funds.
| The shopping list | ||
| Transactions | Amount | |
| Food, ice, greeting cards, kitchen supplies, table cloths, lanyards, sweatshirts | 112 | $12,041 |
| Gift cards | 7* | $330 |
| Flowers | 10 | $770 |
| Total | 129 | $13,141 |
| *11 gift cards were purchased in seven transactions | ||
| Source: Montgomery County Office of Inspector General | ||
Blansitt questioned whether 129 purchases were made for work-related reasons, 112 of which were “food, ice, greeting cards, kitchen supplies, table cloths, lanyards [and] sweatshirts,” and accounted for $12,041.
For example, the office bought sweatshirts for youth camp participants and Montgomery County Human Rights Commission members. The department also bought food and food-related items for Human Rights Commission and Montgomery County Committee on Hate/Violence meetings to encourage attendance.
Though Blansitt said he could find no county policy preventing the department from spending county funds on food for meetings, the practice appears inconsistent with county budgeting practices. It would cost $120,000 each year to provide food at all 75 county board, committee and commission meetings, he wrote, but the county’s annual budget for these organizations is less than $23,000.
The department spent $330 on 11 gift cards. Two went to volunteers to thank them for volunteering — “although this is inconsistent with the expectation that volunteers are uncompensated,” wrote Blansitt — one was a gift for Administrative Professionals’ Day and one was a gift for a retiring employee. In an interview with the inspector general in January, Human Rights Office Director James Stowe could not account for the other seven gift cards.
Employees spent $770 on flowers for someone whose family member died, for someone who was in the hospital and for events like the Human Rights Day awards program.
Blansitt also found 114 purchases that lacked itemized receipts or other supporting documents, including 22 that also fit into the category of not being legitimate work expenses.
Stowe told the inspector general this kind of discretionary spending ended after Chief Administrative Officer Tim Firestine told all departments on April 26, 2010, to “limit spending and enhance controls” in light of a severe budget gap. According to the report, only one food purchase was made after that date.
Still, Blansitt recommended employees be required to reimburse the department for unauthorized purchases. In comments attached to the report, Firestine agreed.
The Office of Human Rights is not the only one with potential credit card abuses. A February audit by the county Office of Internal Audit also found 55 unapproved or undocumented purchases in six other departments.
Stowe and Firestine could not be reached for comment.
