The following Naples City Desk analysis shows Collier County employee credit card purchases by type of merchant.

Clerk of Courts Dwight Brock is advocating that the county adopt broad contracts, approved by Commissioners in advance, before county government staff can purchase on credit style cards, called p-cards. But such contracts sometimes create red tape that results in the county not getting the lowest price, county purchasing officials say.

Credit card purchases are often used for specialty items like travel or professional dues, county purchasing officials say. Purchases via credit card were $2.4 million in fiscal year 2012, or about 1 percent of the $218 million in goods and services purchased by county government employees under the county manager that year.

Watchdog City supports government transparency. This is an Open Checkbook story.

See also:

County government buys goods and services totaling more than $134 million annually from businesses in Collier and Lee

View county spending totals by business

Browse the data

Reporting by: Gina Edwards

About: Gina Edwards, is a national-award winning investigative reporter who has covered Naples and Collier County for more than a decade.

Dateline: Naples, Fla., Nov. 18, 2013

Contact Gina Edwards at 239-514-1336 or by email at gina@watchdogcity.com