NBC Montana investigation compares city credit card usage

As we continue our nbc montana investigation into the way montana cities spend your money... last night, we told you how the city of missoula spends an average of 30-thousand dollars a month on credit card bills... that includes this $100- dollar pair of keen sandals... levi 501's at $47.99... and $46-dollars for skullcandy ear buds... we tracked the sandals and jeans though receipts city spokeswoman ginny merriam sent us ... you can find the skullcandy and other transactions that we've taken directly from city's website and posted on nbcmontana dot com.

Our investigation led us to this question... how does missoula's spending compare to bozeman... billings... and kalispell?

The answer might surprise you.

We've spent months combing through statements... checking receipts... and talking to city leaders around the state to track how your money is being spent.

I would want all the receipts for every month those receipts total an approximate 300- thousand dollars a year for missoula.

We checked four months of missoula's credit card statements... 1:36 i would want to know how it is being spent, trainings in other locations... or trainings in missoula... we totaled an average of about 1-thousand dollars a month spent on food... meals... tips ... water... coffee... ice... then there's 21- thousand dollars in travel.

... british columbia... virginia..

California... nevada..

An average of more than 5-thousand dollars a month.

Included in that ... 22-hundred dollars in travel for the mayor... we asked to talk john engen about credit card use... he declined an interview.

But through this series of emails dating back to last fall we know 46 of the city's nearly 500 employees have a city credit card... the limit on all but two?

5-thousand dollars... the other two..

6 thousand and 10-thousand... total credit card limit for the city of missoula... 236- thousand... we compared that to kalispell..

Turns out the credit limits are close to the same... but when it comes to employees with cards?

Check this out... 10-in total... but six are held by the city treasurer for check out.

Sot i think the spending should be kept down here are three months of kalispell statements... the total?

Over 37-thousand dollars... an average of about 12-thousand a month.

The public, just like us, wanted to know what it's being spent on... there should be some mechanism to let people know what's going on for meals... we could find just two... totaling under 100- dollars.

Then we added up travel to places like helena, great falls and florida.

The total... more than 11-thousand dollars... an average of 37- hundred a month.

The city managers tells us every purchase has to have an explanation like this one... approved by a supervisor.

Billings does lots of business on credit cards... an average of about 240- thousand a month.... almost 8 times the amount missoula spends.

Nats picking up phone we called their finance department to find out why.

A worker there explained it's more efficient... and easier to track.

This woman... the city administrator... told us 214 of the city's 900- plus employees carry a credit card.

Here's what we found....... about 16-hundred dollars ... or about 800 a month... spent in restaurants... close to 10- thousand a month on airline tickets and hotels.

A couple of training destinations... idaho falls and new orleans... but here's something billings does differently... we're told the city can restrict types of purchases on individual cards... that means not everyone can buy anything.

From billings... nats traffic swoosh/bozeman shot our investigation led us to bozeman... 400 city employees... 47 with credit cards... roughly the same number as missoula.

Who gets one?

Sot :30 basically it is based on whether they are supervisors or managers or run a program for the city.

The city manager gave us four months of statements... over 133- thousand dollars... an average of over 28-thousand a month... about the same as missoula.

Page by page we broke the bills.

33-hundred in food... that's about 825- dollars a month in lunch and dinner meetings... bozeman workers racked up over 23- thousand in travel to trainings in texas, montana and nevada... an average over 59-hundred a month.

Sot bozeman 3:15 anybody who is authorizing a purchase needs to be prepared to stand in front of the city commission on a monday night with the cameras rolling and answer a question pertaining to why the decision was made to make that purchase.

By the time we finished pouring over thousands of credit card transactions from four montana cities... we found this bottomline... kalispell, the smallest city, spends by far the least on food and travel... and while billings spends the most on travel... it also about twice as many employees as missoula and bozeman.

When you compare those two cities head to head... you'll find bozeman spends more on travel... and missoula more on food... one swipe at a time.

So what policies do those four cities use to decide what can be purchased on a credit card?

We'll answer that tomorrow... here at ten.

You can watch this nbc montana investigation online... complete with all the receipts from our public information request.

Still to come on