County boosts credit limits for department

SANDPOINT — Bonner County commissioners agreed on Tuesday to increase lines of credit for one department and are expected to field similar requests for other departments.

The moves are meant to ease purchasing and avoid over-limit fees, although they’re also raising some eyebrows.

Bonner County Undersheriff Bob Bussey asked commissioners on Tuesday to raise the credit limit on two of the department’s eight credit cards from $2,000 to $5,000.

Bussey said the department relies on the credit cards due to the slow turnaround on payments from the clerk’s office. Some vendors refuse to deal with the county, while others become wary when the sheriff’s office tries to split payments across two credit cards to avoid exceeding their limits.

“We continually run into problems where we’re maxed out,” said Bussey. “We don’t have the credit limit we should have.”

Bussey said the situation reflects poorly on the county and the sheriff’s office. He added that other departments face similar dilemmas and his office has tried for years to get the issue resolved without success.

“We need to address this problem,” said Commissioner Mike Nielsen.

However, Todd Coumbe, a senior accountant at the clerk’s office, told the board that delays mostly involve the departments not turning in receipts and backup documentation in a timely manner.

“There’s no holdup on our side,” said Coumbe.

Commission Chairman Cornel Rasor, who regularly transacts business with the public sector in his private-sector work, said he expects there to be a delay in payments from a government and chalks it up to “the cost of doing business.”

Rocky Jordan, a Constitution candidate who’s running for sheriff against incumbent Daryl Wheeler, said extending credit limits would be unnecessary if expenditures were tracked more carefully.

“Why can’t they keep an eye on them?” said Jordan.

Bussey defended the department’s purchasing policies during the meeting, pointing out that there are safeguards and auditing procedures in place to protect against fraud.

Nielsen moved to extend the credit limits and Commissioner Lewis Rich seconded the motion.

Bonner County EMS Chief Rob Wakeley said that his department runs into the same over-limit issue and in some cases prefer to pay with a credit card because it offers more consumer protections than payments made in cash or by check.