Administrative Policy

Section 10: Credit Card Responsibility & Use

A credit card account has been established to meet the needs of your department for incidental purchases. Upon receipt of proper documentation and itemized receipt, credit card expenditures will be paid through the Fiscal Officer’s office.

A credit card does not replace requisitions and purchase orders.

Conditions of Use. Expenses may be incurred with the credit card only if all of the following conditions are met:

• Expenditures must be within the guidelines of the particular activity of your department and budget. The expenditure may only be made after the approval of any required requisition and purchase order. The credit card is not to be used for any personal expenses.
• Expenditures to be paid must be less than your individual credit limit of $1,000. With the only exception of that being the Fiscal Officer who may charge up to the balance on the card for purchases that cannot be made with a check.
• Proper documentation to support the expenditure must be sent to the Fiscal Officer prior to receipt of the monthly statement.
  • Proper documentation is to include:
    • Itemized paid receipt indicating the amount paid, the vendor, and an itemized description of the purchase.
    • In the case of books, subscriptions or similar types of orders, a copy of the order form or document, and the packing slip or other receiving document.
    • A hardcopy print-out for any items ordered online.
  • Examples of documentation not allowed:
    • Non-itemized cash register receipts.
    • Handwritten requests for reimbursement without receipts or other verification.
• The Library is exempt from sales tax, and all reasonable efforts should be made to ensure that sales tax is not charged by vendors in connection with purchases made via credit card. A tax exemption certificate is available in the Fiscal Officer’s office. In some cases, if you merely mention to the vendor that the purchase is tax exempt, no sales tax will be charged.

Safekeeping. You are responsible for the safekeeping of the credit card. You shall not permit anyone else to use the credit card or disclose to anyone (other than the vendor/merchant in connection with a purchase) the card account number, CVV, or other pertinent account information. You shall promptly return the credit card to the office of the Fiscal Officer once the purchases for which it was checked out have been made.

Unauthorized Use. If you become aware of any unauthorized or fraudulent use of the credit card, or if the credit card is lost or stolen, you must immediately report same to the Fiscal Officer.

No Right to Credit Card. The credit card is issued to you on a temporary basis, and remains the sole property of the financial institution from which it was issued. The right to use the credit card may be revoked at any time without notice by the issuing financial institution or by the Library’s Fiscal Officer or Director.

Personal Responsibility. You are personally responsible for any unauthorized credit card expenditures and expenditures made in violation of applicable Library policy.

Policy. In addition to the terms set out herein, use of the credit card is subject to the Library’s Credit Card Policy (Administrative Policy 1.3: Procurement – Credit Cards).