Every year, the seven members of the Fresno City Council are given at least $50,000 to spend with few strings attached.

Council members say the money is invested in worthy projects and community activities that might otherwise slide through bureaucratic cracks. Over the past six years, records show, council members have spent more than $4 million.

But good luck figuring out what they bought.

The Fresno Bee spent three months trying to dissect how council members have used that money -- known as "discretionary funds" -- since 2003. City officials responded with hundreds of pages of financial data that only an accountant could love.

For example, according to the records, Council Member Larry Westerlund spent nearly $19,000 on "equipment usage" in 2005. The only description or explanation given: "SMCapital-EQU-31-JAN-2005."

Officials said records were provided to The Bee "in the manner which they are kept." But experts say the city's response offers little insight into spending -- something the public has a right to know.

"It should be very transparent where these funds are going each year," said Jeffrey Cummins, assistant professor of political science at California State University, Fresno. "I wouldn't say this is a transparent format for the ordinary citizen."

City Manager Andy Souza said the city's accounting system "tracks all expenditures for internal departmental usage and is used by the finance department to prepare our annual financial statements. All of these reports are available to the public."

He said the record-keeping is designed for internal use, but also said the city strives to be transparent. He added: "We'll work with our accounting staff to make [the reports] more user-friendly when it's requested by the public."

The Bee began asking for information about discretionary fund spending in November. The city's first response arrived about a month later and after several additional e-mails and conversations.

Among the reasons city officials gave for the slow response was the death of an employee who helped track the spending.

That first response included hundreds of lines of accounting codes. Some entries had notes like "small tools" -- suggesting council members were buying picks, shovels and rocks and stacking them in their offices.

The documents didn't seem to make much sense, even to council members.

Former City Council Member Jerry Duncan and other council members said the report seemed to commingle several money sources. And he wasn't familiar with all the codes.

"I just tell them what I want done, and we send them a check for it," Duncan said.

So The Bee refined its request -- asking for a list of projects and spending on salaries and community events.

The latest records include more than 14,000 lines of accounting along with some new spending detail. But most entries -- particularly funds spent on salaries -- offer no specifics.

Said Souza: "We track those accounts consistent with our internal practices, and we've been doing so since the mid-'90s."

He and others say the picture is complex because of how the city accounts for spending on a discretionary fund mainstay -- infrastructure projects. Officials also have several binders tracking council district projects over the past few years, but those reflect a blend of funding sources -- not solely discretionary account spending.

In explaining the records provided to The Bee, city officials said the finance office breaks up infrastructure jobs into a variety of accounting entries. Salaries for employees who fix streets and sidewalks. Specialized services for tree-trimming and the installation and repair of fences and alley gates. Contract construction for left-turn signals.