Question 1: How much was the city’s total credit card bill last year?

 

The city spent $3.87 million on its credit cards last year.

 

33 different city agencies and subagencies are using the credit cards and the expenses are split fairly evenly between them.

 

Jetport	$                                       604,291
Fire Administration	$                                       554,815
Public Assembly Administration	$                                       425,306
Public Buildings & Waterfront	$                                       388,542
Social Services Administration	$                                       264,119
Police Administration	$                                       252,166

 

Question 2: What were some of the expenses that stood out?

 

$931,215 went to Amazon

$3,400 on pianos at public buildings like Merrill Auditorium home of Portland Symphony Orchestra

$36,500 at wholesale stores like BJs and Sam’s Club

$8,184 on postal services. Finance, City Clerk, Legal department. 

$4,887 on advertising. Police, Fire, Public Health

$3,220 at Dunkin’ Donuts. $2,740 at Panera. Smaller charges to Ihop, Chipotle

 

Question 3: The city also charges some of its hotel stays to credit cards, what did that cost last year?

 

$44,616 on hotels. 

 

Including a $5,000 payment from the police department to the Royal Palm Beach in Miami. Currently the cheapest room available for one person is $248/night. 

 

Alma in San Diego is $198/night cheapest. $1,690 from Public Works administration.

 

Sunseeker Resorts in Charlotte Harbor, FL. cheapest $250/night. $2,050 from fire department.

 

Our records don’t show how many city employees stayed at the hotel or for how many nights, so it’s possible they got a discount and were paying lower nightly rates than I’ve just mentioned. 

 

Question 4: How much money is this credit card bill worth in the grand scheme of the city budget?

 

The city budget last year was $262 million. So we’re only talking about 1.5% of the budget on these credit cards. We’re still waiting for the city to send us their checkbook with much more spending.

 

Still, the credit card spending is higher than some important city services. The JetPort spent $605,000 on its credit cards (mostly heating, office supplies, electrical parts), but the police department spent only $500,000 on security at the JetPort.

 

The city spent more on Amazon purchases than it did on its Housing Safety division. 

 

And the total credit card bill is more than the budget of the city’s Public Health office and almost as much as the full Library budget.