West Virginia State Auditor JB McCuskey has signed a new Purchasing Card (P-Card) agreement for local governments that is expected to earn counties, cities, towns, and school boards an additional $15 million through rebates.
Since Auditor McCuskey took office in 2017, state and local governments have earned over $57 million in rebates from the use of the P-Card.
US Bank was chosen during a competitive bidding process based on both the rebate rates and technical capabilities. In the first year of the contract, local governments are expected to receive nearly 2.75 million in rebates from the use of their P-Cards. Over the 5.5 years of the contract, that number is estimated to reach $15, 099,865.
West Virginia has been able to get a higher rebate rate through the competitive bidding process, introduced by Auditor McCuskey. The newest contract with US Bank will be on average an increase of 44 basis points over the previous contract.
“When I took office, I quickly realized the value of the P-Card and its untapped potential. By putting the PCard contract out for bid, which hadn’t been done before, we have been able to have banks compete for ourbusiness to give West Virginia the best possible rebate,” Auditor McCuskey said. “Right now, so many ofus are having to make our money stretch further, local governments are no different. So, getting this infusion of cash, earned by simply using the P-Card, can make a big difference to communities and people across the
state.”
The P-Card also offers a more efficient method of streamlining the payment process, which nets the state tens of millions each year in cost avoidance savings. Additionally, use of the P-Card helps fight fraud andabuse, because P-Card transactions are tracked, and fraudulent use can be identified quickly.
The P-Card is a credit card used by state and local governments and agencies. Similar to a personal or business credit card rewards program, users receive rebates from the bank that issues the card. Auditor McCuskey has pushed for more counties, municipalities, agencies, boards and commissions, and institutions of higher education to use the P-Card for payments because the more usage, the higher the rebate. It can be used on everything from small purchases, such as office supplies, to large purchases such as agency vehicles or equipment.
The McDowell County school board is a prime example of capitalizing on the benefits of using the P-Card.
McDowell County Schools Director of Finance Leona Ketz was recently honored for her efforts to earn her county P-Card rebates. She started paying nearly every bill with the county’s P-Card, earning the county $200,000 in rebates.
“When you get that kind of money where you can do new programs that you couldn’t afford before, it’s unbelievable what that means to our county,” Ketz said after being recognized.
For fiscal year 2021, the State and Local Purchasing Card Programs processed more than 815,000 transactions totaling approximately $636