Hold onto that credit card
-
- November
- 26
Holiday shoppers aren’t the only ones being warned by financial types to keep a tight hold on their credit cards in a poor economy. In a bulletin, state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli is reminding anyone with state-issued plastic that there are looming budget deficits and the state is trying to clamp down on spending.
“The state’s finances are in bad shape. And things will probably get worse before they get better,” DiNapoli said in a statement. “State agencies must carefully monitor all travel expenses, eliminate all unnecessary travel and remind employees that state-issued cards can only be used for appropriate and reasonable expenses.
“Everyone must play by these rules. If they don’t, my office is watching expenses closely and will take appropriate steps if questionable or excessive charges are identified,” he said.
DiNapoli said he plans to issue a series of bulletins to help state agencies review and control spending.
These are some of his tips on appropriate use of state credit cards:
—They are for use when an employee is on official state business and in travel status, meaning they are more than 35 miles from their official work station and their home. They can expense things like transportation, meals, tolls and unanticipated work supplies (which then become the property of New York State).
—They cannot be used for personal charges or to purchase meals or other items on days when they are not in travel status.
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, November 26th, 2008 at 12:35 pm by Cara Matthews.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Print This Post
| 
Email This Post
Jay Gallagher has covered Albany for Gannett News Service since 1984 and has been Albany Bureau chief since 1989. He`s a native of the Boston area and likes to point out that in this millennium, the score is Red Sox 1 championship, the Yankees 0. 
Cara Matthews has been a statehouse correspondent in the Albany Bureau since August 2005. Prior to that, she covered Putnam County government and politics at The Journal News for nearly five years. Before that, she worked at newspapers in Connecticut and covered the state Legislature for one of them. 
