Questionable pCard spending tops $20,000

The Hawaii County legislative auditor has identified 145 purchasing card transactions from Mayor Billy Kenoi’s office that either violated county policies, had a questionable purpose or may have violated state law.

The questionable transactions by Kenoi and his staff (unnamed by the audit) amounted to $23,683.41, said Legislative Auditor Bonnie Nims.

Kenoi’s office disagreed with part of Nims’ report issued Friday. “While we do not agree with all of the assertions and conclusions contained in the report, we fully support the audit recommendations and are working towards implementation of all the recommendations with the Department of Finance,” Hawaii County Managing Director Walter Lau said in a July 15 letter to Nims. Lau could not be reached to outline the areas of disagreement.

Kenoi has apologized for spending $129,580.73 on his pCard for such questionable expenses as hostess bar tabs and a surfboard and has reimbursed the county $31,112.59. The state attorney general’s office is conducting a criminal investigation of the spending while the county Board of Ethics is reviewing a complaint about Kenoi’s actions.

But Nim’s report outlines three questionable transactions for which the mayor has not paid the county back.

The audit said the transactions include:

>> $1,270.60 in airfare for a “youth ambassador” to attend a surf competition in California.

>> $652.40 for a volcano and waterfall helicopter tour for a U.S. Conference of Mayors affiliate and three family members.

>> $348.03 for several bottles of wine as gifts for legislators (the state Procurement Office has said alcohol is treated as a prohibited item).

While Kenoi claimed he typically reimbursed the county every month for personal charges, the audit found only 33 percent of charges were reimbursed a month or less after the transaction. Six percent of reimbursements were made in 1,000 days or less; 30 percent, 500 days or less; and 31 percent, 100 days or less.

The auditor found that other county departments did not appear to violate county policies on pCard use. “It appears the Mayor’s Office was not always held to the same requirements as other departments,” the audit said.

“We believe that all public employees should be held to the same standards,” from the groundskeeper to the mayor, “and held to the same accountability for using taxpayer money,” Nims said.

Nims named one other agency with problems with pCard use. Nims pointed to 19 questionable charges totaling $6,278 made by Liquor Control Department Director Gerald Takase, who wrote the auditor saying his pCard is registered with an airline, rental car companies and a hotel chain, and charges default to it. “I have tried to charge these accounts to my personal credit cards. … However, this has created the secondary problem of creating more paperwork for our accountant.”

The audit found $282.95 for four miscellaneous personal transactions were not reimbursed until the audit brought it to management’s attention.

Nims said the audit began in November because pCard use is inherently high-risk, not because of Kenoi’s apparent abuse of the card.

The news media in March exposed Kenoi’s personal use of his county-issued pCard at two Honolulu hostess bars, to buy an expensive surfboard and bicycle, as well as lavish spending on several trips, stays at luxury hotels and dining at restaurants and bars.

“We were taken off-guard, too,” Nims said. “We were doing the audit when it all came out.”

“I think it’s a training issue,” Nims said. “It’s treating each employee in a fair and equitable manner. It’s finance going through and teaching all pCard coordinators and pCard holders what’s allowable and what’s not allowable and renewing that training annually.”