It cost Fayette County $219.76

to buy a $14.49 thermostat last July, according to a report from the county

Finance Department.

"This is a much more efficient

system and it saves dollars," said Mark Pullium, finance director,

in urging the County Commission last week to adopt a pilot program to

try out the purchase, or procurement, card system he was recommending.

Commissioners unanimously agreed,

though some voted for the measure with reservations.

"I have reservations,"

Commissioner Herb Frady told Pullium, "but I'll support it as a pilot

program and then help you pick it apart in six months."

Representatives of Wachovia,

the bank that handles Fayette's accounts, pitched the idea of the P-card

to commissioners in October as a means of increasing efficiency and accountability.

The purchase cards would be similar to the ATM/debit cards used by many

individual bank customers, and will be distributed to key county employees

to make purchases that will automatically come out of the county bank

account.

"It will save you time,

money, effort and a whole list of things," said Ingrid Kelly, senior

sales officer for Wachovia.

Cards like the ones she is

proposing, Kelly said, have numerous high-tech controls on them so they

can't be easily abused. A county official can be authorized to spend a

given amount of money per month, and a different amount per transaction,

and the card can be set up to pay for expenditures only in authorized

categories, she said.

So a worker authorized to purchase

only office supplies wouldn't be able to use the card for travel, she

said.

The cards also could be electronically

linked to the county budget, so a department would be forced to stay within

prescribed limits, said Kelly, adding that workers would have to keep

receipts and those receipts would have to be randomly audited to prevent

abuse.

Because it eliminates the physical

costs of receiving invoices and mailing checks, along with the costs of

employees who have to be involved in such transactions, the purchase card

can cut the cost of a purchase from an average of $50 - $150 to an average

of $15 - $25, she said.

During the October meeting,

commissioners weren't quite ready to buy the actual estimates, which are

industry averages, and asked Pullium to conduct his own study of actual

costs to the county.

His report said that the average

cost of a purchase order as currently handled is $205.27. Using that average,

he gave the example of the $14.49 thermostat.

The P-card will reduce that

cost considerably, Pullium predicted.

A limited number of county

workers will try the card out for six months and its worth will be evaluated

again.