North Tonawanda Council votes to implement credit card program

NORTH TONAWANDA - The North Tonawanda Common Council passed a resolution Tuesday to approve the Municipal Credit Card/Cash Rebate Programs. This will allow the city to implement a credit card program that provides each department with an assigned card that will identify that department and their purchases.

The city will still operate under standard operating procedures; however, now anyone wishing to make a purchase will have to go through City Clerk-Treasurer Scott Kiedrowski, and justify the reason why they want the card. Then, they will fill out a form and come back with a receipt, just like they did with a purchase order.

All the cards will be managed and maintained by the Clerk-Treasurer’s Office.

“The main reason we are doing this is because many vendors don’t want to deal with purchasing orders anymore, so we have to go somewhere else to get the same product at a higher price,” said Kiedrowski.

Implementing this change will garner the city the best possible prices when purchasing goods and services.

Transitioning to credit cards is common among many other municipalities. This is not a new procedure, it is just new to the City of North Tonawanda. Kiedrowski stated there will be no cost to the city itself. The only change taking place is how the department heads conduct their purchasing.

Kiedrowski added, “They [the departments] budget money for these particular items. The reason I want to justify the use of the cards is just to verify the departments aren’t just going out and purchasing a non-traditional items.”

Kiedrowski, who will oversee the use of these cards personally, does not want the cards to be abused and is confident no department will abuse the use of the cards. However, it doesn’t hurt to be sure.

To guarantee there will be no incidents of abuse with the cards, the city plans to come up with a tracking system so it can track the purchases, just like they have already been doing with the use of purchasing orders up until now.

They will only be modifying the tracking procedures.

In the event the total municipal purchases of everyday smaller items and larger purchases such as gasoline, utilities and insurance equates to a combined total of up to $1 million or more at the end of the fiscal year, the city will be eligible for a cash rebate of one percent of the spending or $10,000.

The next North Tonawanda Common Council meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 18, at city hall, 216 Payne Ave., North Tonawanda.