Perrysburg officials take a closer look into the misuse of city credit cards

PERRYSBURG, Ohio (WTVG) - The discussion regarding the misuse of city-owned credit cards continues for Perrysburg municipal employees.

Perrysburg Finance Director Amber Rathburn said Tuesday that the city currently has over 20 credit cards.

13abc crews asked for the exact number of cards and it turns out the city has 29.

“Right now there are about 30 Mastercards that we have. And I honestly think it just evolved over the years,” Rathburn told 13abc.

With the approval of a city council resolution earlier this week, the city will soon have only three cards. Each card will have the city’s name on it and directors will have to sign them out for use. This system will be new for city employees as the cards were once more accessible.

“We would have them in finance. Just regular Mastercards that when needed could be checked out,” said Rathburn.

Rathburn said the changes are not related to a recent investigation by the state auditor but instead, some recent incidents.

“There have been some increased instances of fraud recently,” said Rathburn. “There’s been about four instances in the last four weeks.”

Around Christmas time, the city found some employees were not using the cards as they should have been.

“We’ve had a couple of employees in the last couple of months accidentally use their city cards instead of their personal. One was Christmas shopping. One was at a restaurant. We’re chasing those,” said Rathburn.

Jonathan Smith, Perrysburg City Councilmember, asked if there were any repercussions for misusing the cards.

“For those who are doing this, are we doing any discipline or anything on that? Because that could potentially be a big charge to go back on,” said Smith.

However, repercussions weren’t discussed during the meeting. Rathburn said the city will take action this week.

“There will be a resolution on this. That’s required by the auditor of state,” said Rathburn. She added that she followed through to have any possible fraud charges addressed and was told that the city would not be liable.

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