By NICOLE CARTRETTE
Staff Writer

Keeping a $489 camera listed on a fixed asset or inventory list isn’t something that county department heads are required to do.

A purchasing policy updated in January of 2005 simply states that “department heads are responsible for those assets assigned to their department.” Under that policy only items having a value of $5,000 or more are noted for accounting purposes.

While the policy states “it is the responsibility of the purchasing department for the county of Columbus to inventory the county’s fixed assets,” there are no set guidelines on how those items valued at less should be accounted for.

Commissioners tentatively agreed recently the county needed to keep more detailed inventory records, regardless of whether items would be expensed in the county audit reports.

Purchasing Director Stuart Carroll and Finance Officer Bobbie Faircloth recommended items valued at $500 or more be tagged and tracked in an inventory list but some board members were concerned.

“I’m not comfortable with $500,” Commissioner Ronald Gore said, pointing out the County Schools do annual inventory reports of items including telephones. “If four cameras are $489 we need to hold every department accountable,” he insisted.

“We’ve got to know where we are before we know where we are going.”

Carroll said specific items that are considered theft sensitive could be included, such as computers. “If you go much lower you are talking about desks,” Carroll said. “It would be hard to tote a desk out and if you go much lower you are putting a lot of pressure on us.”

“Department heads can assign it someone else,” Gore said. “If it’s moveable we put a fixed asset tag on it and keep it in the inventory list. There’s fax machines, computers —so many items in county buildings. That’s a lot of money and cents there.”

Carroll expressed concern over getting cooperation from all departments. “I cannot honestly do all that without your support –if you want it at $100 or $200,” he told commissioners.

“If we do this we need to tag every one of them and get an accurate record of what we have –if we are going to do this let’s do it,” Gore insisted.

The board instructed Faircloth and Carroll to come back to the board with a policy revised to show a lower dollar amount.

In 1998 the policy was amended to increase fixed assets from $250 to $500. In 2001 the policy was changed to define items valued at $1,000 or more as fixed assets and the most recent change in January of 2005 changed that policy to things valued at $5,000 or more.

For now, individual departments follow their own rules on items valued below the county threshold.

Health Department Director Kim Smith said she has never personally gone through the inventory list for her department but that she has discussed the policy changes under consideration with her staff. “We are going to have to go office to office,” Smith said. “There are seven chairs in my office, I am not a depreciation expert but I’d say they probably cost $100 when they were purchased but I don’t know what they would be worth now,” she said. “If a piece of computer equipment is purchased it is purchased for a specific position and stays with that position.”

Public Utilities and Maintenance Director Leroy Sellers said in the past everything was tagged and inventoried. “At one time we did filing cabinets, chairs, and many of those items still have stickers,” he said. “The maintenance department spent two to three days a year checking the lists and tagging items.

“It’s probably best to let the department heads do it. They know best what’s in their department better than my guys do,” Sellers said. Cell phones in his own department are assigned by purchasing and as for cameras in his department, Sellers said his staff uses disposable cameras.

Individual maintenance employees are given specific tools like screwdrivers and other small hand tools that are color coded to identify different employees’ assigned tools.

He said going back to identify all assets that are now in possession valued at $100 or more would be tougher than simply enacting a policy that applies to all items purchased from here on out.

“I don’t have a problem with that. I like checks and balances,” Sellers said, pointing out that under the current policy “there’s not a lot of checks and balances.”

Phil Edwards, director of the airport, said there are a few items in his department that meet the threshold but that several items have old inventory stickers. He indicated a lot of what he has is 30 years old or more. “Most of our stuff is on the list anyway,” he said, pointing out he was just waiting for the county to decide what needed to be included.

“We’re very strict,” Department of Aging Director Ed Worley said. “We intend to keep an eye on everything.”

He indicated that seven nutrition sites keep inventory of pots, pans stoves and refrigerators and all report those to the nutrition supervisor at the Whiteville center. The seven senior centers keep ongoing inventory of tables, chairs and other items at each location. All items are accounted for each year in February, Worley said.

“I found it’s the best way to do it,” Worley said. “It’s not mine, it’s taxpayers and I believe in keeping up with it.”

Kay Worley, interim Emergency Services director, said items on the inventory list she receives from the county include items that may not be valued at $5,000 but that some items like cameras and laptops that may not be included are kept up with.

Laptops, cell phones and other items are assigned to individual employees and serial numbers to those items are included in employee files.

“Things like cameras—employees must sign for them,” Worley said. “If they leave, they are required to turn those items back in. I have a record of what they have.”

Board of Elections Director Carla Strickland said that because all computers and voting equipment are purchased with grant funds she requests they be inventoried and have stickers attached. “I keep track of all of our equipment –no matter what it is,” Strickland said. “It is purchased through grants —every piece, computers, scanners –that’s all on our listing.”

She pointed out that the State Board of Elections conducts wellness checks annually and while it may not be on the fixed asset list, the desktop and laptop computers are kept on an internal list.

“We keep an inventory control on everything purchased,” Strickland said.