The city of South Fulton should not allow its elected leaders to use purchasing cards or, at the least, should adopt a zero-tolerance policy and immediately suspend cards that are misused, according to one of the recommendations in an audit of the city’s P-card program.
The report by the firm Baker Tilly — which also released findings this week from its forensic audit of the mayor’s P-card spending — found that card usage by the mayor and City Council members represented nearly 30% of the total $2.86 million spent by all 85 city cardholders over a 25-month period, from January 2023 through January 2025.
“Elected officials do not report to a supervisor and are thus not accountable to an individual approver, which results in greater susceptibility for misuse,” the report says. “Providing credit cards to elected officials can create actual or perceived conflicts of interest for making purchases for personal or political benefit.”
Asked whether the city will follow the recommendation, District 3 Council member Helen Willis said officials are waiting for Baker Tilly to give them a draft procurement policy before deciding which suggestions to take.
City Manager Sharon D. Subadan said compliance by the city’s P-card users has improved and that the city plans to hire a senior compliance officer who will monitor P-card usage.
“The City of South Fulton remains steadfast in our commitment to fiscal stewardship and operational transparency,” Subadan said in a statement.
The report on the city’s P-card program found South Fulton has a solid policy but “has not had an accountable structure for enforcing policy violations, especially for elected officials.”
It found P-cards were used for food, travel and other purchases without proper authorization or oversight, as well as for donations and gifts. It also found “continued card use after employee termination dates” and 287 instances of missing receipts totaling $68,300.
This week, Baker Tilly also released its forensic audit of spending by Mayor khalid kamau — who has faced a firestorm of criticism this year for his international travel at taxpayer expense and other questionable purchases made with his card.
Credit: Courtesy of city of South Fulton
Credit: Courtesy of city of South Fulton
P-card programs are often used by local governments as an efficient way to make small-dollar purchases but are susceptible to misuse without strict controls, Baker Tilly said.
The forensic audit of kamau’s spending found several violations of city travel and P-card policies in its analysis of more than 700 purchases using the mayor’s P-card from March 10, 2023, through Jan. 28 of this year, totaling $109,209.
These include a lack of required approvals for trips and payment “for a flight by a non-city employee to Bogota, Colombia.” The audit also mentions “three transactions for a trip from Bogota, Colombia for a Penn State foreign exchange student, which was not approved.”
The mayor’s spending included travel to Washington, D.C., for a conference; two trips to Colombia; Rwanda for a business trip; Paris, France, for the Olympics; D.C. again for a Pride event; Canada for the Toronto Film Festival; and Ghana, in western Africa, for a 21-day trip.
Kamau has previously characterized visits to Colombia and Ghana as trade missions.
According to the city’s travel policy, the city manager or city clerk must authorize travel by an elected official, the audit states.
“There is no documentation that this was done for any trip taken by the mayor,” it adds.
Out-of-state trips by elected leaders costing more than $1,500 must be authorized by the clerk or city manager, the audit says.
In one instance involving a planned trip to Ethiopia in November 2024, $459 in per diems was paid to the mayor, the audit says. The trip was canceled, but it appears the mayor didn’t pay it back to the city, the report states.
In a text message on Thursday, kamau said some City Council members also have traveled outside the U.S. on taxpayer dollars, “yet my budget is the only one this council voted to spend $55,000 extra dollars to do a forensic audit for, on top of $75,000 for a general audit.”
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