SA councils would be forced to reveal credit card spending under reforms
Councils would no longer be able to hide their spending on booze, lunches and gifts under proposed new laws to be introduced into State Parliament.
SA News
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Councils could be forced to publicly disclose their credit card statements – meaning they would no longer be able to hide any outlay on booze, lunches and gifts – under local government reforms set to be introduced into State Parliament in the coming weeks.
Making councils publish their credit card statements and other spending on a centralised government website is among options being considered to improve financial transparency within the sector.
Local Government Minister Stephan Knoll said the proposed move would force councils to rein in potentially dubious spending.
It comes after three councils were caught misspending ratepayers’ money on alcohol, meals, movie tickets and presents, revealed by The Advertiser.
An inquiry by the public sector financial watchdog revealed councils had inappropriately used credit cards to pay for jewellery vouchers, movie tickets, an aquarium and plants, and a photo booth for a Christmas party.
The amount of misspent expenditure highlighted in the report ranged from $10,000 for “confidential study assistance” to $18 for a coffee meeting with a new staff member.
Audits into Playford, Charles Sturt and Coorong District Councils were released on Tuesday while further audits into all of South Australia’s remaining 65 councils are expected to follow.
Auditor-General Andrew Richardson uncovered dozens of examples where councils “did not demonstrate proper use of public money” and made numerous recommendations to combat the issue, including disallowing spending on alcohol and having a senior employee assess credit card transactions.
In response to the audits, Mr Knoll said the Government was leading by example, by banning the purchase of alcohol on ministerial credit cards, and he hoped councils take heed.
“We have seen instances where councils go a bit far and they do need to rein it in,” he said.
“What we’ve seen with the Auditor-General’s report is what happens when we shine a light on council spending.
“It’s why before the election we were talking about ensuring that councils proactively disclose their credit card expenditure and that’s why in a number of weeks’ time we’ll see our reform bill (introduced) which will include measures to improve council spending transparency.”
Mr Knoll said the bill would “have the effect of not only improving transparency but (would) also (put) in place other mechanisms like benchmarking that can actually help to increase the financial discipline of councils”.
“But at the end of the day councils are responsible to their ratepayers and their ratepayers are the ones who will decide what is appropriate or not,” he said.
“The best thing that we can do is make sure that the systems are in place (so) they get the information to be able to make those informed decisions.”
Local Government Association President Sam Telfer said it was important for councils to have “clear and appropriate policies in place to guide credit card use”.
“These policies are set by councils based on their views and community expectations about what is reasonable expenditure,” he said.
“Many councils have already taken steps to strengthen their credit card and expenditure policies, but the LGA will be looking closely at the Auditor-General’s recommendations to see how they might be applied across the sector.”