Lake County P-Card Use Needs Improved Internal Controls: Report

WAUKEGAN, IL — Lake County should improve internal controls and procedures for managing credit cards used by its employees and officials, according to a report presented Wednesday to the Finance and Administrative Committee of the County Board. The independent audit of the county's procurement card, or p-card, program was prepared by the Chicago-based consulting firm the Bronner Group.

The probe was prompted by questions about p-card purchases made by ex-Board Chair Aaron Lawlor, including hotels, meals and ride sharing bills. It comes nearly two months after Lawlor disclosed he was struggling with an unspecified drug addiction and went on indefinite leave, withdrawing as a candidate for re-election shortly before a state-imposed deadline over failure to file financial reports and pay resulting fines that would have kept him off the ballot. An Illinois State Police investigation is ongoing.

The county has 260 credit cards, and the Bronner Group's assessment looked one randomly-selected month of transactions for over the past year 10 percent of them, according to the Lake County News-Sun. It found missing approval signatures, delays in supporting receipts, and small personal expenditures on the p-cards. P-card bills rose from $3.7 million in mid-2014 to mid-2015 to $6.7 million in 2017-18, according to the News-Sun.

The Bronner Group report cost the county more than $47,000 and took about five weeks to produce, according to WBBM-TV. A more comprehensive multi-year audit of the program, supported by some board members, would cost taxpayers close to double that amount.

Some board members pointed out the p-cards make payments easier to track and last year generated $100,000 in rebates to taxpayers, according to the News-Sun. Interim Board Chair Carol Calabresa said it was a conflict of interest for the board chair to be in charge of signing off on expenses submitted by members, and Board Member Sandy Hart said the elected officials should not have access to taxpayer-financed cards at all, suggesting they be reimbursed for expenses instead. County staff will review the assessment and present further recommendations within a week.

Read more from the Lake County News-Sun

Related:

• Lake County Credit Card Policies Reconsidered Amid Spending Probe
• State Police Investigate Aaron Lawlor's Credit Card Spending
• Amid Rehab, Investigation, Aaron Lawlor Won't Seek 4th Term