Richmond city spokesperson had city-issued credit card suspended (2024)

Richmond city spokesperson Petula Burks’ city-issued purchasing card has been suspended for nearly a year after she failed to clear a backlog of charges and accidentally used the card to pay for a personal expense, documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by the Richmond Times-Dispatch show.

Burks, who directs the city’s Office of Strategic Communications, made 130 purchases worth a total of $277,151.99 between Jan. 5 and July 20, 2023, according to a transaction log for her purchasing card. The charges included over $71,000 on consulting and public relations services, roughly $50,000 on photo and video studios, more than $42,000 on restaurants and catering, and around $1,600 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, where she represented the city at an International Council of Shopping Centers convention.

The city of Richmond allows approved officials to use city-issued credit cards to make certain business-related purchases. Burks’ purchasing card is among at least three cards to be suspended in the last year. After multiple conversations with city officials, it is still not clear how many purchasing cards have been or are paused.

Burks said the frequency and volume of the charges to her purchasing card are a result of her role, which often involves orchestrating large, last-minute events and requires her to use her purchasing card to compensate vendors in a “timely fashion.” But purchases made with the card abruptly stopped after July 20, the transaction log shows.

“There were a number of aged payments that we were trying to work with (Burks) a number of times to close out,” said Rene Almaraz, the director of Richmond’s Department of Procurement Services, which oversees the purchasing card program. He added that the unpaid balance would “fluctuate” as some charges were disputed and cleared and other charges were settled.

“People are busy, which is understandable,” Almaraz said. “(Burks) has a lot on her p-card. She was working on it, … (but) the ability to catch up on it was taking a while, so it was suspended.”

One of the flagged payments was for a personal expense that Burks inadvertently charged to her purchasing card instead of her personal credit card, Almaraz said. He said Burks brought the charge to officials’ attention, is working to reverse it and has already reimbursed the city.

Now, 11 months since it was cut off, Burks’ purchasing card is still not active.

Almaraz said the suspension of the purchasing card was neither indefinite nor permanent, and that the card would be reinstated once Burks had cleared any remaining backlogs — which existed as recently as a month ago.

“I don’t know the status of her payments,” he said. “We’ll take a look at ... if there are any other outstanding payments that need to be made right now. We’re looping back around to see what we can do to get these things opened back up again.”

The purchasing card program policy, reviewed by the Richmond Times-Dispatch, indicates that the penalty for “failure to complete, sign off or approve by required date” is a written warning, while the penalty for an “unintentional personal purchase” is a suspension up to 30 days for the first offense. Outstanding payments are not explicitly identified as an infraction.

A 2019 audit of the purchasing card program noted that “untimely bill payments” were an issue, and said the overdue balances caused financial loss because they disqualified the city from receiving rebates from Bank of America.

“We recommend the director of Procurement Services develop and implement a process to ensure timely P-Card bill payment,” the auditors said at the time.

Officials raised Burks’ credit limit

The purchasing card policy sets the general single transaction limit at $5,000 and the monthly spending limit at $10,000. Burks exceeded the customary per-transaction limit on 20 occasions between January and July 2023 and exceeded the monthly limit every month during that span, charging an average of $39,593.14 per month, the transaction log shows.

Almaraz explained that Burks’ credit limit was raised at her request, but said he did not know the dollar amount of Burks’ increased single transaction and monthly limits “off the top of his head.”

Burks told The Times-Dispatch her monthly limit had been set at $50,000, and cited her position as a factor in the increased spending. She is often tasked with “turnaround event(s) in less than 24 hours,” she said, and deals with vendors who “need immediate payment.”

But Burks surpassed even the heightened limit on two occasions, spending $61,168.02 in January 2023 and $56,925.38 in May 2023, according to the transaction log.

The January and May 2023 charges were largely categorized in the transaction log as “management, consulting and public relations” or “eating places, restaurants.”

Asked about her expenses for those months, Burks said that “at times, a temporary limit increase is deemed appropriate to assist with immediate expenses.”

“January (and) ... May are some of the busiest months in the city,” Burks said. “Working with many small businesses, being able to remit payment quickly for services rendered is critical.”

The purchasing card policy includes a maintenance request form that cardholders fill out to request credit limit increases. Asked whether Burks had filled out that form, Almaraz said he would “look into it.”

Cardholders collectively spent almost $12M last year

Officials said the purchasing card program is not an independent, annually funded program, and that each purchasing card’s balance is covered by the budget of the department or office to which it is assigned.

There are currently 336 city employees with purchasing cards, according to a list provided by officials. Collectively, the cardholders charged $11,909,228.86 in 2023, but that sum was distributed across all city departments and offices.

Burks’ position falls under the Office of Strategic Communications. The city’s operating budget allocated $885,179 toward that office in 2023, city budget records show. But expenditures for that office totaled $1,230,140 — 39% over the budgeted amount.

Burks used the card to make $42,431.05 worth of purchases categorized as “caterers,” “bakeries,” “eating places, restaurants” or “fast food restaurants” in 2023, the transaction log shows. Burks said many of the large charges were “connected to citywide or community events, either internal or externally facing.”

In the 2019 audit, city auditors noted that the purchasing card policy permits “allowable food purchases” in the event that the purchases are “directly related to normal business,” but pointed out that neither “allowable food purchases” nor “normal business” were defined.

“We recommend the Director of Procurement Services clearly define what are allowable ... food purchases,” the auditors said at the time. Five years later, however, officials confirmed those terms still have not been defined.

Instead, Almaraz said cardholders must seek approval for food purchases before the purchases are made and submit a form that summarizes the business purpose of the purchase and the attendees of the meal. Asked for copies of those forms for Burks’ food purchases, city officials said they would work on turning them over.

Other purchasing cards recently suspended

The Times-Dispatch began investigating purchasing card usage after reporting on the suspension of the accounts of both General Registrar Keith Balmer and Deputy Registrar Jerry Richardson.

The Richmond Inspector General’s Office is investigating claims of nepotism and financial impropriety against both Balmer and Richardson.

Almaraz said the purchasing card program is currently being audited as part of the city’s regular routine of monitoring its programs. The audit is not connected to the recent suspensions, Almaraz said.