Over $74,400 in inappropriate purchases made by state employees on items, including a vacation package to Las Vegas, a personal laptop and expensive tickets to a theater production, were identified by the Legislative Audit Bureau Wednesday in an audit of purchasing card use.
Out of over 600,000 purchases made by state employees, 3,071 were reviewed. According to the report, the assessed purchases were not chosen randomly, but selected because they showed risk of abuse. ""High-risk"" purchases were those made during holidays and weekends or at luxury retailers. The report did not say if there were other potentially high-risk purchases that were not reviewed.
UW System purchases represented 73.7 percent of all purchasing card expenditures. Irresponsible purchasing varied across UW System schools. At UW-Milwaukee, only 35.7 percent of purchases explicitly stated a business-related purpose when submitted for review. At UW-Madison, 47.1 percent were explicitly reported as business-related.
The report found $52,463 in ""excessive or unnecessary"" purchases made in agencies statewide. According to UW System spokesperson David Giroux, UW System employees made 10 percent of the total irresponsible purchases.
A $695 fox-fur stole was purchased by a UW-Milwaukee cardholder, a UW-Superior cardholder used $292 for veterinary services for her sister's horse, and an unknown $1,003 Wal-Mart purchase was made by a UW-Oshkosh employee. UW-Oshkosh indicated the record for the Wal-Mart purchase was destroyed in a flood.
The LAB report said UW System schools are given discretion and flexibility regarding oversight. Giroux said the UW System has a set of controls in place to prevent inappropriate spending.
""We already have a number of checks and balances. These purchasing cards are routinely looked at on a department basis and on a campus basis. There are multiple signatures that need to be provided to authorize these purchases,"" he said.
Giroux said the UW System is looking to improve the process with more standardized training for individuals who administer and use purchasing cards. He said a web-based training program is currently in the works.
The report suggested the spending limit on many purchasing cards was set too high and could make the state vulnerable to abusive spending.
State Rep. Bill Kramer, R-Waukesha, a member of the Joint Committee on Audit, said even the small inappropriate purchases accumulated to thousands of dollars.
""The problem with small purchases like that is when you do as many as the state of Wisconsin does, that adds up … We are talking about a lot of money,"" he said.
Kramer said if state employees fail to reimburse the state for their transactions, they should be fired and prosecuted.
""You don't have to be on the committee very long for this to really make you say, ‘What?' although I have to tell you, I'm really not surprised. Governments are notorious for inefficiencies,"" he said.
A public hearing regarding the report's findings will be held in front of the Joint Committee on Audit, according to a statement from the audit committee's co-chairs.
