C.
Cardholder Use of Purchasing Card
1. Cardholder Use Only
The purchasing card may be used only by the employee
whose name is embossed
on the card. No other person is authorized to use
the card. The cardholder is
responsible and accountable for all transactions that
occur on his/her card. The
cardholder may be held personally responsible for
inappropriate charges.
Upon receipt of the Purchasing Card, the cardholder
should sign the back of the
card.
2. County Purchases Only
The purchasing card is to be used for County authorized
purchases only. The
purchasing card cannot be used for any personal use
and any such use will
require immediate reimbursement and will result in
disciplinary action, which
may include dismissal. In addition credit card privileges
will be revoked and card
surrendered - ON FIRST OFFENSE.
3. Spending Limits
a. The County Administrator approving the assignment
of a purchasing card will
set two limits for each cardholder: single purchase
limit and 30-day limit. The
maximum limits shall be $2,499.99 for a single purchase
and $15,000.00 during
the 30-day billing cycle. Additional limitations
may be imposed by the
requesting Director.
b. Requests for spending limit changes shall be
initiated by a memo to the
Purchasing Card Administrator by the Department
Director and approved by the
County Administrator.
c. A purchase may be made of multiple items, but
the invoice cannot exceed
$2,499.99 or the cardholder's limit if less than
$2,499.99. Splitting charges
will be considered abuse of the purchasing card
program, for example,
artificially dividing similar purchases over different
days and times to keep
the total amounts below the $2,499.99 limits for
single purchases. Charges
will be considered split if more than 4 purchases
are made from a vendor in
one month and the invoice totals exceed $10,000.00.
4. Other
Conditions
a. All items purchased over-the-counter shall be
immediately available. No back
ordering is allowed.
b. Authorized travel for employees at County expense
to meetings and seminars for
members of the Board of County Commissioners, department
heads and employees
as per Board of County Commissioners Policy Manual
Section I, Part 4, Out of
County Travel.
c. Blanket Purchase Order Releases require a receiving
report instead of paying by
Visa Purchasing Card. Do not use Visa Purchasing
Card for the vendor which you
have established a Blanket Purchase Order. Blanket
Purchase Orders are required
instead of the Visa Purchasing Card where similar
repetitive purchases, from a
particular vendor is generally the case. Purchases
from a vendor that exceed
$2499.99 in a month are considered to be repetitive.
5. Prohibited Uses of Purchasing Cards
The following types of items will not be purchased
with a purchasing card, regardless of the dollar amount.
a. Cash advances;
b. Telephone charges;
c. Any additional goods or services specifically
restricted by the departments.
Note: Please review the complete list of Visa Merchant
Category Codes,
allowed and disallowed in this procedure on pages
12 of 19 thru 19 of
19.
D. Procedures for Making and
Paying for Purchases
1. Documentation of Over-the-Counter Purchases
a. When an over-the-counter purchase is made, the
cardholder shall obtain the
customer's copy of the charge slip.
b. The charge slip will be retained either by the
cardholder or by the Department
representative until submitted to the Clerk’s Accounts
Payable section for
payment.
2. Sales and Use Taxes
The County is exempt from paying any State sales and
or use tax, even if the
purchase is made with the Purchasing Card. If the
vendor charges sales tax, the
cardholder shall contact the vendor and obtain a credit
equal to the amount of the
sales tax.
The Escambia County Tax exemption number is printed
on the face of the
Purchasing Card. If you have problem with any Vendor
about sales or any other
tax, please contact Purchasing at 595-4980.
3. Missing Documentation
If for some reason the cardholder does not have documentation
of the transaction to
send with the statement to his/her Purchasing Card
Representative, he/she shall
attach a description of the purchase. Continued incidents
of missing documentation
may result in the cancellation of the employee's purchasing
card and discipline. The
employee will be required to pay for the purchase
if he/she cannot produce the
document of the transaction.
4. Payment and Invoice Procedures
a. The purchasing card company will mail an individual
billing statement to the
cardholder=s office and one consolidated statement
for all cardholders to the
Clerk's Accounts Payable section. This Statement
of Account will list all
transactions processed during the previous billing
cycle (usually 30 days.) If no
purchases were made on the purchasing card during
the billing cycle, no
Statement of Account will be generated unless adjustments
for previously billed
transactions have been processed during that cycle.
b. The cardholder shall review the statement and
note any errors or disputes.
Account numbers for each item (or account numbers
and total dollar amounts
for groups of items) should be written on the transmittal
form F0220 preprinted
on payment voucher envelope and place statement
and receipts in envelope.
The statement will then be reviewed and signed by
the Department
representative. By signing the statement, the designated
Department
representative is certifying that all charges are
appropriate and authorized and
that all charges are proved by attached receipts.
Once the Department representative has reviewed
and signed all statements for
which they are responsible for, the statements are
forwarded to the Clerk’s
Accounts Payable section. All vouchers shall be
received in the Clerk’s
Accounts Payable section no later than five (5)
business days after the
billing cycle cutoff date, which is the fourth (4th)
of each month. Card
charge slips/receipts for all items listed on the
statement shall be sent along with
the statement.
c. The Accounts Payable section will ensure that
the Purchasing Card charges are
paid timely and that the consolidated statement
received is reconciled against
the individual cardholder statements forwarded from
the Departments.
Department Directors will be notified when individual
statements are not
received in the allotted time. Continued failure
to meet the five workday
deadlines may result in the revocation of Purchasing
Cards and discipline at the
recommendation of the Purchasing Manager to the
County Administrator.
E. Disputes
1. If items purchased with the purchasing card are
defective, the cardholder shall
return the item(s) to the vendor for replacement or
credit. If the commodities paid
for with a purchasing card are faulty, the vendor
shall be notified and asked to
correct the situation or provide a credit. If the
vendor refuses to replace or correct
the faulty item or service, the purchase will be considered
in dispute. If the quantity
of items received is less than the invoice and charge
billing, then the transaction
shall be disputed.
2. If a vendor charges the county sales tax the cardholder
should not sign the sales slip
and buy the commodity.
3. A disputed item shall be explained with a note
on the cardholder's Statement of
Account before the statement is forwarded to the Accounts
Payable section for
payment.
4. It is essential that the time frames and documentation
requirements established by
the purchasing card issuer be followed to protect
the cardholder's rights in dispute.
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