Chicago gov't slashes credit card use

CHICAGO, Sept. 16 (UPI) -- Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said the number of credit cards used by city employees has been slashed from more than 500 to just eight.

Emanuel said city agencies have exceeded his expectations in cracking down on credit card abuses.

"Upon taking office we learned that lax credit card and reimbursement policies with little to no accountability allowed some city employees to treat a city credit card as their personal expense accounts," Emanuel said Thursday in a statement.

Emanuel said three agencies have been able to abandon credit card use entirely. Also, expanded polices developed by agencies, such as the Chicago Parks District and Chicago Housing Authority, regulate everything from previously undefined expenditures to reimbursement policies for advisory board members, the mayor said.

"We discovered that our sister agencies did not have clear policies in place, so we defined a clear, uniform and stringent policy for them to follow," City Comptroller Amer Ahmad said.