SPECIAL REPORT: City reps use city debit card on community events, city travel, constituent “treats”

A close examination of P-card purchases made by city representatives and their staff show most of the elected officials budgets were used for major community events in their district, travel on city business and office supplies.

El Paso City Representatives, and their administrative assistants, have a P-Card. The cards have replaced traditional “petty cash,” discretionary funds used to make cash payments when it is not convenient to write a check.

“It’s very expensive to issue purchase orders for everything the city does. So the P-Card actually facilitates small purchases,” Pat Degman, the City of El Paso’s Chief Financial Officer, said.

City Representative Cortney Niland spent the most in calender year 2015 at $19,847. Representatives Emma Acosta and Lily Limon had the second and third highest amounts with $18,449 and $16,855 respectively.

The rest of the city representatives spent significantly less. Carl Robinson’s office spent $9,923. Michiel Noe and his staff spent $6,946 and former City Representative Larry Romero’s administrative aide spent $5,906.

Claudia Ordaz and her administrative aide spent $3,653 and Peter Svarzbein, elected last summer, spent the least at $2,193.

City Reps Svarzbein, Romero and Robinson never used their P-Card in all of 2015 and all purchases were done by their administrative aids.

Niland’s expenditures, the highest of the bunch, revolved mostly around community events, like neighborhood association block parties and movies at the park. “We choose not to be fully staffed and operate our office with less staff so we can use the funding in the actual neighborhoods,” she said in an interview.

Out of Acosta’s $18,449, nearly $12,000 was used to put on Movies at the Park, a weekly movie showing her office organizes at different parks in her district from the first Saturday of June to the last week in August. “I don’t have enough funds for it and it’s a great family event so if I want to keep providing it to the community, I need to raise private funds,” she said in an interview. Acosta last year raised about $11,000 from local companies to cover the cost of the events. “It’s also good marketing for these companies,” she said.

The rest of Acosta’s funds were used mostly for travel to meetings of the Texas Municipal League where she represents the City of El Paso. “We try to take flights that are less expensive, but unfortunately, I do have to travel the night before to get to an 8 o’clock meeting.”

Several city representatives also travelled to El Paso Days in Austin last year, a time for legislators, community organizers, local officials and business members to promote the city and establish goals. Acosta in all her out of town trips did not pay for food or transportation with her city issued P-Card. “I don’t want to burden my budget any more than i have to so we’ve become very frugal.”

Other city representatives like Claudia Ordaz did make small food purchases but did not charge airfare to the City of El Paso for the trip.

City Rep Lily limon, the third highest, spends her funds mostly on recognitions, a disc golf club for children in her district and treats for constituents.

For example, the certificates the city issues for proclamation or awards requires an 8.5 x 14 frame. “We’ll put an order of $500 worth of the frames just because you can’t get them by going to a store and picking them off the rack,” Limon said.

The District 7 City Rep. said she will prepare goodie bags for children who read the Pledge of Allegiance at council meetings and will sometimes deliver treats to school children on field trips. Limon’s office purchased the equipment and will sometimes pay golf instructors who teach children in her district at different parks or recreation centers in her district.

Mayor Oscar Leeser’s office topped P-Card purchases at $37,906. He personally spent $8,009.16 in calender year 2015. The large majority of the rest was spent by his administrative aide, Taylor Moreno, at $23,906. The large majority was spent on airfare, transportation (uber or taxis), hotels and some food for city trips. As the representative of the City of El Paso, the Mayor is required to travel significantly more than city council.

Every year, fiscal year city reps are allocated $11,000 in office and discretionary funds, which is what pays for P-Card purchases. According to information provided by the City’s Budget office, none have gone over budget.

“We’re required to reconcile our expenditures and back that up with receipts and verification and then we have to send it to not only the internal auditor but also to the CFO,” said Niland.

Degman said in an interview her office reviews P-Card purchases once a month and the city auditor conducts an audit annually. “There’s a really a good system of checks and balances,” Degman said.