Lavish meals, parties, gifts. Fresno councilmember calls for audit of city credit cards
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Fresno City Councilmember Garry Bredefeld on Thursday accused four of his elected colleagues of using their city-financed credit cards as a “slush fund,” spending thousands of dollars for parties, lavish meals, and entertainment.
Bredefeld accused his longtime political rivals on the council Miguel Arias, Esmeralda Soria, Nelson Esparza, and Tyler Maxwell, of abusing the city credit cards.
“Councilmembers each have operating budgets of $700,000 with incredibly minimal to no oversight of their expenditures,” Bredefeld said in a news release.
“They have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on restaurants, meals, consultants, gifting of public funds, creating campaign brochures, campaign materials, direct mailings, and have tens of thousands of dollars in unexplained charges from major retail companies,” he said.
Bredefeld passed out to reporters during a news conference hundreds of pages of invoices detailing the expenses, but many of the charges listed on credit card bills didn’t have backup documents such as receipts, he said.
Flowers for birthdays, AirPods, candy apples for Halloween, movie tickets for interns, candy, and bicycles for children were just a few expenditures made by councilmembers in the last two years.
Bredefeld also criticized the number of staff the four councilmembers employ, saying two staffers should be enough.
Councilmembers Luis Chavez and Mike Karbassi also used their district operating budget and city credit cards for meals, turkey giveaways, charitable donations, travel, and advertising. Bredefeld does not use a city credit card. Bredefeld said Chavez and Karbassi’s expenditures were not as egregious as the others.
Bredefeld specifically criticized Maxwell’s spending on a 16-page glossy brochure that Maxwell called a newsletter and said his staff was hand-delivering to residents. Bredefeld alleged the newsletter violated mass mailing laws because it contained Maxwell’s photo and campaign logo.
Councilmembers respond to Bredefeld’s allegations
In a joint statement late Thursday morning, Maxwell and Esparza denied any abuses and criticized Bredefeld, saying he should “stop his wasteful charade of utilizing taxpayer money, as well as City resources, facilities, and staff time on routine phony press conferences.”
“Fresno City Council operational budgets are approved every year through our City’s formal budget process and approved by a majority of the Council to be utilized for staffing and district needs,” Esparza and Maxwell said in the statement.
“Expenditures out of City Hall hold a public purpose in serving the community, something that Councilmember Bredefeld is very unfamiliar with,” Esparza said in the news release. “Residents throughout the city appreciate the resources that go into community outreach and the responsiveness from their Councilmembers. There’s nothing inappropriate about taxpayer dollars being reinvested directly back into the people and neighborhoods that we represent. This latest show of political theater by Councilmember Bredefeld is unfortunately all he has to offer to our City.”
“I answer to my District 4 families, not to Councilmember Bredefeld. I will not stop purchasing items, like bicycles, for children living in District 4 to get to school. I urge the Councilmember to focus on bringing forward policies that help his neglected constituents and lift our community, instead of wasting taxpayer dollars, city resources, facilities, and staff time on phony press conferences every other week,” Maxwell said in the news release.
In the joint statement, Maxwell and Esparza said expenses are routinely reviewed by the city attorney’s office.
“Additionally, our City Attorney’s office routinely reviews council expenditures and has not found any misuse of Council funds. It is up to each Councilmember to determine the needs of their district and budget accordingly. Ultimately, each Councilmember will be held accountable by their constituencies, not an irrelevant Councilmember.”
However, in a brief interview with The Bee on Thursday, City Attorney Doug Sloan said neither he nor anyone in his office regularly reviews councilmembers’ credit card statements.
“I did not review any credit card bills nor did anyone else (in his office) to my knowledge,” Sloan told The Bee.
Bredefeld wants independent audit of council budgets
Bredefeld said he plans to call for an independent audit of every council district’s budgets. He also called for all city council district credit cards to be rescinded and for each councilmember to only have two staffers.
Councilmember Mike Karbassi welcomed this idea. Karbassi said he would turn in his city credit card, and if he’s spent money in an inappropriate way, he wants to know so he can fix it.
Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer said in a statement that city administrative orders establish uniform standards and procedures for the use of city credit cards and reimbursements.
“Anytime these types of allegations are brought forth, they create an enormous amount of concern and if not addressed appropriately can created a tremendous amount of distrust by the community of its government,” Dyer said in a statement. “The city manager and I will be discussing the appropriate level of review to include an independent external audit. This is the ensure that expenditures by all city of Fresno credit cardholders comply with the current policies to identify practices.”
The city’s administrative order 1-9 outlines who receives a city credit card and how it should be used. It says that city credit cards “may be used only by those authorized and only for the purchase of goods or services for the official business of the city of Fresno.” It also requires all credit card purchases to be backed up with proper documentation, including the date of the purchase and what the item or service was.
“Misuse of the card will subject the card holder to disciplinary action in accordance with City policies and procedures relating to disciplinary action and termination for cause,” the administrative order reads.
Councilmember Luis Chavez declined to comment for this story. Councilmembers Miguel Arias and Esmeralda Soria did not comment before The Bee’s print deadline.
This story was originally published March 17, 2022 at 10:13 AM.