DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Daytona Beach city credit cards have been suspended while new policies are created in response to our investigation into misspending.
Channel 9 Volusia County reporter Demie Johnson began investigating public records two weeks ago after a commissioner raised these concerns.
“If there is anything that is done illegally, we will pass that information over to the police department and let them go down that road. If they’re doing anything where they’re violating policy, we will work with HR,” said City Manager Deric Feacher.
Feacher said past, present, and future spending by employees is now being closely examined. For more than two weeks, we reviewed every transaction made on city-issued credit cards, questioned the city manager about policies and procedures, and then obtained the city’s travel expenses.
We found thousands of dollars spent at retail stores and restaurants on credit cards. Then, a travel expense report we exposed showed that the city could have saved more than $120,000 per year on travel if it were better monitored.
“Our first initiative in bringing context in the p cards was based on questions that were raised by a journalist and Demie is here, who really asked some key questions and strategic questions to try and clear up anything that might be out there,” said Feacher.
Since our investigation began, the city has suspended all employee credit cards, created a new webpage to display transactions and receipts, and is in the process of developing new spending policies. An auditor has also been asked to review travel, credit card, and car allowance policies and provide guidance to staff moving forward.
“If we have individuals who have spent money and we need to get a refund from them, it’s simple we can do that through the payroll system and we are evaluating all of that and some of that has already been done,” said Feacher.
Last week, interviewed Senator Tom Leek, who said the state could get involved in this situation at any moment. We have followed up to see if that’s still being considered and have contacted the CFO, Attorney General, and the offices of the Governor and Lt. Governor. We are still waiting to hear back.
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