In St. Joseph County, there are more than 30 credit cards used by government officials from the health department, to the prosecutor and any other department in between. And because taxpayers ultimately pay the bill on those cards, WSBT News wanted to see what was on them.

“They’re used mainly as a convenience when people are either out of town or traveling,” said St. Joseph County auditor Peter Mullen.

In our check of credit card statements from August until December 2007, we found 12 finance charges and two late fees totaling about $300. But when we asked the county auditor about it, we learned all late fees and penalties had been credited back to the county. Mullen said, because local government takes longer to process bills and send it all through payroll, they were originally assessed the late fees and finance charges. But in the end, the bank gave the county a break.

When it comes to credit card accountability and transparency, Mullen said local government has come a long way. He looked into the issue when he took office earlier this year.

“I was concerned that there might be credit cards in everybody’s back pocket which I found 30 years ago when I was a city controller — that everybody had a credit card.”

Today, he said that is not the case.

“It’s not used very often. I would imagine $3,000 or $4,000 a year for the whole county.”

And that's out of a $65 million-a-year budget. The bottom line is we didn't find any seemingly outrageous purchases, and, in the end, taxpayers didn't have to pay finance charges or late fees, either.

For this government credit card check, St. Joseph County passes.