Purchase audit a wise precaution

Considering all that is unfolding in Sarasota County government — its reputation firmly stained by scandal — Town Manager Bruce St. Denis is smart to be conducting a purchasing audit of his operation.

Being a little proactive can save a lot of reactive that could cost taxpayers money and cost managers their jobs.

The town uses “piggybacking” and credit-card purchasing, the two big areas that have caused four Sarasota County employees to lose their jobs — with more investigations ongoing. One employee has been charged with bribery in connection with purchasing.

Piggybacking is the practice of taking contracted prices for services and products that other municipalities use, rather than going through the full bid process. It is not uncommon, but it can be abused, and apparently was in Sarasota County, where local businesses complained for years they were being locked out of jobs they could have won if the work were not piggybacked for an out-of-area business.

St. Denis said the town does a lot of piggybacking for contracts, but he sees it as different because of the town’s small size. And it only uses local contracts to piggyback, whereas Sarasota County was using the process for companies as far away as Wisconsin.

For instance, Longboat might piggyback its manhole maintenance contract with Manatee County, because the town has maybe 30 manholes to deal with in a year whereas Manatee may have 3,000. It makes sense that way to piggyback on the big county contract.

In the same way, the town’s small and intimate size should provide for careful oversight of credit-card usage.
“With the credit cards, you’ve got to be careful. You’ve got to watch,” St. Denis said. “But we’re so small that the purchasing manager sees every (purchase).”

Nonetheless, St. Denis is having Bradenton-based Shinn & Co. conduct a purchasing audit for the town. The company was already conducting the town’s annual financial audit, and so St. Denis expanded the scope of service to include purchasing.

Smart.

And then, because the public is demanding more transparency in government, the town should post the results online.

Rod Thomson is editor of the editorial pages for The Observer Group and can be reached at [email protected].