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As Amarillo City Council discussed the next steps forward in making reforms to the Amarillo Economic Development Corporation, another point of controversy emerged. Currently, the AEDC allows staff to utilize personal credit cards for business expenses. The AEDC reimburses staff for the payments, while staff gets to keep any rewards associated with using the card.
AEDC President & CEO Kevin Carter explained the policy for allowing the use of personal credit cards by stating that many organizations have rejected attempts to pay with a purchasing card, necessitating the use of personal cards. In particular, he pointed to paying for hotels as a key example of problems with using purchasing cards. “The documentation is exactly the same whether you use the p-card or the personal card,” said Carter.
Councilman Josh Craft brought up a potential problem with the policy: staff members using personal cards get to keep the benefits, such as points, when using the card to pay for business expenses. Craft directly asked Carter if he has any direct benefit such as points or miles from using his personal card.
“We do, yes sir,” said Carter. “It’s been past, historical, that staff gets to keep those miles.”
Carter then noted that he does not have a cashback card, but did note he gets miles from his American Airlines card. He further noted that he uses those miles for personal purposes and that he does not put them towards savings for business trips.
“I think that for a private person to benefit from public money can be something that we would take very serious, so we will check the legal aspect of that,” said Mayor Cole Stanley.
“If this body decides that our Board needs to make that a restriction then we certainly will comply with that restriction,” said Carter.
For our full story on the discussion of other issues regarding the AEDC, click here.