SOUTH BEND — When you get your monthly credit card statement in the mail, hopefully you aren't surprised by what you see. But did you know we're also paying the bill for credit cards we never see?

In St. Joseph County, from the Health Department to the Parks Department and even the county prosecutor, there are nearly 30 credit cards for use by public officials.

Since taxpayers ultimately pay the bill in most cases, we wanted to see what's on them. So we started with the South Bend School Corporation.

We asked for monthly credit card statements for the last half of 2007 from Supt. Robert Zimmerman.

The annual percentage rate is about average: 14 percent. The monthly balance averaged $813. But each bill was paid in full, which means you paid no late fees or finance charges.

So what was the superintendent buying?

The statements show conference trips, travel expenses and food. From the end of June to the end of December, Zimmerman charged $1,271.04 on meals at local restaurants including the East Bank Emporium, Trio's, and The Vine.

Zimmerman says when you're talking school business with a board member or community leader, you don't do fast food.

"But at the same time you're also cognizant of the fact that this is a public expense account and so you want to be responsible on that as well and so that means we also don't generally go to the top of the Holiday Inn up to the Summit Club,” he told WSBT News.

In fact, Zimmerman says being transparent is the very reason he uses a credit card.

"The record is pretty clear when you do it on a credit card and it’s pretty evident as to what's being spent and where it's being spent,” he said.

School board member Bill Sniadecki says the expenses, as long as they're kept in check, are part of the superintendent's job.

"Dr. Zimmerman’s dealing with trying to get the community involved and that concerns a lot of people,” Sniadecki said.
Zimmerman's contract specifies an expense account for these types of charges that comes out of the general fund — and there's no set limit to what he can spend.

While board members don't see the individual charges each month, they do look at the total amount on the bill. If it seems high, they question it.

So far, board members we spoke with say they haven't needed to.

We're checking other government credit card statements and we'll show you what we found over the next few weeks on WSBT News.