County receives $540K rebate check tied to P-card program purchases

A number of Knox County officials hung out today to get them one of those fancy check passing pics taken. Heh.

But seriously, Sun Trust Bank cut the county a rebate check for $538,329 under the county's P-card (I can't bring myself to calling them "E-cards") program.

Shiny happy people

There's some kind of formula that I won't bore you with, but essentially every time the county uses one of these charge cards, it gets money back (all paid at the end of the year).

The county last year got $447,000 check for 2103 spending.

In a released statement no doubt crafted by communications director (he got a promotion) Michael "Big Sexy" Grider, county Mayor Tim Burchett said:

“The E-commerce card rebate program continues to show that there is a real-dollar value to efficiency in government. I appreciate the Knox County Purchasing Department’s on-going efforts to identify tax-saving efficiencies through the E-commerce Card program. I’d like to specifically recognize Purchasing Program Manager Janice Orr and E-Card Coordinator Lori Holmann for their help in ensuring these substantial savings for Knox County’s taxpayers.” 

The release notes that during the past four year, the county has received more than $1.5 million in rebates and that "the Knox County Purchasing Department identifies opportunities to utilize the cards for various county transactions with third party vendors, and has saved Knox County millions through cost-avoidance by consolidating the E-commerce card program"

Funny, the school system is always crying about being in the poor house. Maybe if officials on that side of Main Street had used the P-card program sooner, they'd get a nice check, too. Instead of, you know, waiting until you discover that someone forgot to pay the credit card bills on time.