Credit card spending

More small business owners were turning to credit cards to finance their companies, something which was not the most effective way of running a business, Debtworks director David Young said yesterday.

Complaints over public office credit card expenses may result in guidelines for the kind of information which is able to be released.

Dunedin City Council staff charged more than $4.8 million to 206 civic purchase credit cards over three years, just-confirmed figures reveal.

The one credit card owned by the Waitaki District Council has had $11,126.77 charged to it over the past two years.

Dunedin City Council staff are more likely to have their hands on a ratepayer-funded credit card than their colleagues in other councils across New Zealand, figures show.

The Southern District Health Board, which has a budget of about $800 million, is to cut its credit cards from three to two.

Angry members of the public are calling for belt-tightening within the Dunedin City Council to control millions of dollars of spending on ratepayer-funded credit cards.

Dunedin City Council chief executive Jim Harland was told nearly two years ago council staff were holding too many meetings in city cafes, but nothing appears to have changed, a city councillor says.

Dunedin City Council chief executive Jim Harland - the man paid $352,000 a year to manage the city's bureaucracy - has charged nearly $20,000 worth of travel, accommodation and other costs to his ratepayer-funded credit card.

The Dunedin City Council has acknowledged millions of dollars of credit-card spending, prompted by an Otago Daily Times inquiry. Questionable purchases, staff apologies and disciplinary action are in the mix. Chris Morris reports.