Plastic privilege that should be cut

When you have a problem with credit cards, the simplest solution involves a strong wrist and a sharp pair of scissors.

We’re not advocating quite such a drastic measure for the Baker School District’s collection of plastic.

But we agree with the district’s financial auditor that the district should, at least temporarily, stop allowing employees to use credit cards even for valid school-related purchases.

Here’s why:

Even after being admonished by a different auditor two years ago, some district employees have continued to use credit cards without turning in receipts or otherwise documenting that their purchases were appropriate.

“You have a policy, but it’s not being consistently applied,” the district’s current auditor, Robert Armstrong of John Day, told the school board last week.

It’s important to point out that the auditor’s findings fall well short of a scandal.

The accountants found no evidence that anyone committed fraud.

Problem is, the lack of receipts or other documentation can make it pretty hard for auditors to figure out whether a purchase was authorized.

It is, as Armstrong told the board, “a potential area for abuse.”

The district has an obligation to the taxpayers — whose money we’re talking about, after all — to ensure that every dollar is accounted for.

Using a publicly owned credit card is a privilege, and like all privileges it can be revoked.

The board should, for the rest of this school year, prohibit employees from using district credit cards for relatively minor purchases such as meals or motel rooms while they’re traveling.

Instead, employees can spend their own money and then be reimbursed by the district when they submit a receipt.

The district’s policy, after all, is hardly onerous. In our experience it’s pretty hard to avoid getting a receipt. Most businesses will offer you one, and especially aggressive clerks sometimes press the paper into your palm before you’ve even had a chance to ask.

Some district employees have shown that they can’t be trusted to collect receipts when the money isn’t theirs.

We suspect they’ll be more diligent when their own name is printed on the card.