Richmond spokesman had city-issued credit card blocked

Burks, who heads the city’s office of strategic communications, made 130 purchases totaling $277,151.99 between Jan. 5 and July 20, 2023, according to a transaction log on her shopping card. The spending included more than $71,000 for consulting and public relations services, about $50,000 for photo and video studios, more than $42,000 for restaurants and catering and about $1,600 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, where she represented the city at a meeting of the International Council of Shopping Centers.

Richmond’s purchasing card program allows authorized officials to use city-issued credit cards to make certain business-related purchases. Burk’s purchasing card is one of at least three that have been canceled in the last year. After several conversations with city officials, it’s still not clear how many purchasing cards have been or will be canceled.

Burks said the frequency and volume of charges on her purchasing card were due to her role, which often involves organizing large, short-notice events and requires her to use her purchasing card to compensate vendors in a “timely manner.” But purchases made with the card stopped abruptly after July 20, the transaction log shows.

Officials with the Richmond Department of Procurement Services said this was because Burk’s card had been blocked due to overdue payments.

“There were a number of past due payments that we (Burks) tried to settle multiple times,” said Rene Almaraz, director of Richmond’s Department of Procurement Services, which oversees the purchasing card program. He added that the outstanding balance would “fluctuate” as some charges were disputed and settled and other charges were settled.

“People are busy, which is understandable,” Almaraz said. “(Burks) has a lot on her P-Card. She’s been working on it, … (but) it took her a while to get it done, so she was put on hold.”

One of the flagged payments was for a personal expense that Burks had mistakenly charged to her purchasing card instead of her personal credit card, Almaraz said. He said Burks alerted officials to the charge, is working on a reversal and has already refunded the city.

Today, 11 months after the suspension, Burk’s shopping card is still not activated.

Almaraz said the purchase card suspension was neither indefinite nor permanent and would be reinstated once Burks cleared any remaining balances – which existed just a month ago.

“I don’t know the status of their payments,” he said. “We’ll check to see if there are any other payments outstanding that need to be made now. We’ll get back to you to see what we can do to get these things moving again.”

The purchasing card program’s policy, reviewed by the Times-Dispatch, states that the penalty for “failure to perform, sign or approve by the required date” is a written warning, while the penalty for an “accidental personal purchase” is a suspension of up to 30 days for the first offense. Unpaid payments are not specifically referred to as a violation.

A 2019 audit of the purchasing card program found that “untimely bill payments” were a problem and determined that the past due amounts resulted in financial loss because it disqualified the city from reimbursements from Bank of America.

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

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

Almaraz explained that Burks’ credit limit was increased at her request, but said the amount of Burks’ increased single transaction and monthly limits did not come to mind.

Burks told The Times-Dispatch her monthly limit was set at $50,000, citing her position as a factor in the increased expenses. She is often tasked with “turnaround events in less than 24 hours,” she said, and deals with vendors who “need to be paid immediately.”

But Burks even exceeded the increased limit twice: According to the transaction log, he spent $61,168.02 in January 2023 and $56,925.38 in May 2023.

The expenses for January and May 2023 were mostly classified in the transaction log under the categories “management, consulting and public relations” or “restaurants”.

When asked about her expenses during these months, Burks said that “sometimes a temporary increase in the limit is deemed appropriate to help with immediate expenses.”

“January (and) … May are some of the busiest months in town,” Burks said. “Since I work with many small businesses, being able to quickly transfer payment for services rendered is critical.”

The purchasing card policy includes a maintenance request form that cardholders must fill out to request a credit limit increase. When asked if Burks filled out that form, Almaraz said he would “look into it.”

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

According to a list provided by the authorities, 336 city employees currently have purchasing cards. In total, cardholders spent $11,909,228.86 in 2023, with that amount distributed among all city departments and offices.

Burks’ position falls under the Office of Strategic Communications. The city’s operating budget allocated $885,179 for that office in 2023, according to city budget documents. However, spending for that office totaled $1,230,140 – 39% more than the budgeted amount.

Burks used the card in 2023 for $42,431.05 in purchases in the category of “catering,” “bakeries,” “eateries, restaurants” or “fast food restaurants,” according to the transaction log. Burks said many of the large charges were “related to citywide or community events, either internal or external.”

During the 2019 audit, the city’s auditors found that the purchasing card policy allows for “permissible grocery purchases” as long as the purchases are “directly related to normal business operations.” However, they noted that neither “permissible grocery purchases” nor “normal business operations” are defined.

“We recommend that the head of procurement clearly define what constitutes permissible food purchases,” auditors said at the time. Five years later, however, officials confirmed that those terms had still not been defined.

Instead, Almaraz said cardholders would have to get approval before purchasing food and submit a form listing the business purpose of the purchase and who was attending the meal. When asked for copies of those forms for Burk’s food purchases, city officials said they would work to provide them.

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

Balmer’s shopping card was suspended in May after he racked up nearly $70,000 in expenses in 2023, including nearly $15,000 on furniture, $8,903 at a local art dealer, about $6,500 on hotels and lodging, and over $6,000 on food and beverages. Richardson, whose card was also suspended, spent more than her boss, putting nearly $80,000 on her shopping card and using it to purchase a gun and ammunition.

The Richmond Office of the Inspector General is investigating allegations of nepotism and financial irregularities against Balmer and Richardson.

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