City internal auditor to investigate city-issued purchasing cards on city council members

City of El Paso (credit: KFOX14/CBS4)

KFOX14/CBS4
by Jhovani Carrillo
Mon, June 5th 2023, 7:14 PM GMT-7

EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14/CBS4) —The chief internal auditor for the city of El Paso is investigating city-issued purchasing cards issued to city staff.

The city’s internal auditor said that his staff is looking to review the purchasing card activity for the years 2020 and 2021.

These purchasing cards, also known as "P-cards", are allocated to council members and approved city staff for work-related expenses.

According to the city’s "P-Card" usage policy, each card has an assigned credit limit and there’s also a single transaction limit placed on each individual card.

The city's "p-card" usage policy explicitly states that transactions should not be split to evade the single transaction limit.

KFOX14 was able to obtain the activity for these "P-card" purchases from January 2022 to April of this year.

According to the documents, it shows activity from current and former city council members.

According to the usage report, former councilwoman Claudia Rodriguez, who is being accused of excessively using her gas card, spent nearly $13,000 from April 2022 to December 2022.

The money was spent in several stores including Walmart, Marshalls, and Target.

Meantime, representative Cassandra Hernandez, who is also accused of excessively using her gas card, spent nearly $12,000 on her "P-card" during the same period.

The chief internal auditor, Edmundo Calderon said that they will be looking at the activity of purchasing cards and gas cards on Wednesday.

"City council asked me about additional years, specifically 2020 and 2021. My staff is currently reviewing that data," said Calderon.

Calderon said they will be looking into the activity of both purchasing cards and gas cards.

“This is about the taxpayers and I represent the taxpayers and I want to focus on that right now," said Calderon.

The usage report for the "p-cards" also includes spending for the city manager.